February 23, 1886 - Charles Martin Hall produces the first aluminium samples with his most economical method

On 23 February 1886, this inventor and engineer produced the first samples of aluminium using a method he had developed to make aluminium production cheaper, thus becoming the first metal to achieve widespread use since the prehistoric discovery of the iron.

His basic invention involved passing an electric current through a bath of alumina dissolved in cryolite; the newly formed aluminium accumulated at the bottom of the retort.

On 9 July 1886, Hall applied for his first patent. This process was also discovered almost at the same time by the Frenchman Paul Héroult and has come to be known as the ‘Hall-Héroult process’. It succeeded in lowering the price of aluminium by a factor of 200, making it affordable for many practical uses.

When he could not get funding to continue his research, he moved to Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania, USA) where he contacted one of the best-known metallurgists of the time, Alfred Hunt. The two founded the Reduction Company of Pittsburgh, which opened the first large-scale aluminium production plants. It later became the Aluminum Company of America and then Alco. Hall was a major shareholder and became wealthy.

In 1900, the annual production of aluminium reached about 8,000 tons, and today more aluminium is produced than all other non-ferrous metals combined.

If you want to know more about this scientist, click on the following link: Charles Martin Hall