science · 23 February 1886 · 138 years ago
In 1886, Charles M. Hall, a young U.S. chemist, completed his electrolytic process for the separation of aluminum from its ore, a mere eight months since he graduated from college. He dissolved the alumina ore in a bath of cryolyte (a mineral containing flourine, sodium and aluminum) and passed electric current through the solution. The process he patented (2 Apr 1889) was the first to become an inexpensive, commercial application. Production began in Nov 1888 by the Pittsburgh Reduction Company started , which later became ALCOA, the Aluminum Company of America.
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