February 20, 1907 - Death of Henri Moissan, Nobel Prize in Chemistry for isolating fluorine

He studied at the Collège de Meaux, at the Institute of Agronomy in Paris and at the Institute of Toxicology. In 1874, he obtained his bachelor's degree in chemistry and, in 1880, his doctorate with a thesis dealing with cyanogen and its reactions to form cyanide.

In 1886, he managed to isolate fluorine as a yellow-green gas by electrolysis of a solution of potassium fluoride in anhydrous hydrofluoric acid. The existence of fluoride was already known, although all attempts to obtain it had been unsuccessful, and some researchers had even died trying.

Among his contributions to science, there is also his arc furnace capable of reaching temperatures of 4,100 ° C, allowing the reduction of certain metals such as uranium, chromium, tungsten, vanadium, manganese, titanium and molybdenum.

In addition, he was one of the first to carry out research on calcium, discovered by Humphry Davy in 1808, achieving a purity of 99% by electrolysis of calcium iodide.

For his isolation of fluoride, he received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1906, dying suddenly of an attack of appendicitis, shortly after returning from Stockholm to collect the prestigious award.

If you want to know more about this scientist, click on the following link: Henri Moissan