Charles Martin Hall:
Charles Martin Hall was an American chemist.
Birth:
December 6, 1863 in Thompson, Ohio
Death:
December 27, 1914 in Daytona Beach, Florida
Claim to Fame:
Hall was an American chemist who discovered an inexpensive method to refine aluminum from ore. He built an apparatus that passed an alternating electrical current through a solution of alumina and cryolite that would cause aluminum metal to precipitate out. This process was also discovered by French chemist, Paul-Louis-Toussaint Héroult at nearly the same time and is generally known as the Hall-Héroult process. It was responsible for greatly reducing the cost to produce aluminum and made it one of the most widely used metals today.
Interesting Trivia:
Hall is sometimes considered the origin of the American spelling of 'aluminum'. In England and other countries, the element is spelled with an extra 'i' as in 'aluminium'. Hall misspelled the word on a handbill publicizing his process and the spelling stuck.
