The name most frequently heard at the American Institute of Mining & Metallurgical Engineers convention in Manhattan last week was that of Charles Martin Hall who died in 1914. Reason: aluminum.
Although it is the most abundant metal in the earth's crust, aluminum was not isolated until a Dane named Oersted did so in 1825, by heating the chloride with potassium. Napoleon Ill's chemist, Deville, substituted sodium for potassium, got the price of aluminum down to $34, then to $17.
Charles Martin Hall was born in Thompson, Ohio to a Congregational clergyman...
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