Charles Martin Hall facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Charles Martin Hall
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Charles Martin Hall
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| Born | December 6, 1863 Thompson, Ohio
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| Died | December 27, 1914 (aged 51) |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Engineer |
| Family | Julia Brainerd Hall (sister) |
| Engineering career | |
| Significant advance | Hall–Héroult process |
| Awards | Perkin Medal (1911) |
Charles Martin Hall (born December 6, 1863 – died December 27, 1914) was an American inventor, businessman, and chemist. He is famous for inventing a cheap way to make aluminum in 1886. Before his invention, aluminum was very expensive. After his discovery, it became a metal used all over the world.
Hall was also one of the people who started the company Alcoa. He worked with Alfred E. Hunt and other partners to raise money. They started the Pittsburgh Reduction Company, which later became the Aluminum Company of America, or Alcoa.
Contents
Biography
Charles Hall's Early Life
Charles Martin Hall was born on December 6, 1863, in Thompson, Ohio. His parents were Herman Bassett Hall and Sophronia H. Brooks. Charles's father, Herman, went to Oberlin College. He also studied at a seminary, where he met Sophronia.
They got married in 1849. For the next ten years, they worked as missionaries in Jamaica. Five of their eight children were born there. The family moved back to Ohio in 1860. Charles had two brothers and five sisters. His sister Julia Brainerd Hall (1859–1925) was also a chemist and helped him with his work.
Charles started learning at home. His mother taught him to read when he was very young. At age six, he was already reading his father's old college chemistry book. When he was eight, he went to public school and learned very quickly.
Moving to Oberlin and College
Hall's family moved to Oberlin, Ohio, in 1873. He spent three years at Oberlin High School. Then he spent a year at Oberlin Academy to get ready for college. During this time, he showed how good he was at chemistry and inventing. He did many experiments in his kitchen and a shed behind his house. In 1880, at age 16, he started at Oberlin College.
In his second year, Hall listened to a lecture by Professor Frank Fanning Jewett. The professor showed a sample of aluminum, which was very rare and expensive. He said that anyone who could find a way to make aluminum cheaply would become rich and help the world. This idea greatly inspired Charles.
How Hall Discovered Cheap Aluminum
Hall started trying to find a way to make aluminum cheaply in 1881. He tried many different methods. He tried to make aluminum from clay by heating it with carbon. He also tried to improve other ways of making aluminum using electricity. He even tried to use aluminum fluoride in water, but it didn't work.
In 1884, Hall set up a homemade furnace in a shed behind his family's home. He kept trying to find a special ingredient that would help him make aluminum with carbon at high temperatures. He tried mixing different chemicals, but nothing worked well.
Hall had to make most of his own equipment and prepare his chemicals. His older sister, Julia Brainerd Hall, helped him a lot. On February 23, 1886, he made his big discovery. He found that if you pass an electric current through a mixture of alumina (aluminum oxide) dissolved in cryolite, pure aluminum forms at the bottom.
On July 9, 1886, Hall applied for his first patent for this process. Around the same time, a French inventor named Paul Héroult discovered the exact same process. Because of this, it is now known as the Hall–Héroult process.
Starting a Company
After his discovery, Hall tried to find people to invest money in his idea, but he couldn't find any in his hometown. So, he went to Pittsburgh. There, he met a famous metal expert named Alfred E. Hunt. They decided to work together and formed the Reduction Company of Pittsburgh. This company opened the first large factories to produce aluminum.
The Reduction Company later changed its name to the Aluminum Company of America, or Alcoa. Charles Hall owned a lot of shares in the company, and he became very wealthy.
The Hall–Héroult process changed the world of aluminum. It made the price of aluminum 200 times cheaper! This meant that aluminum could be used for many everyday things. By 1900, about 8,000 short tons of aluminum were made each year. Today, more aluminum is produced than all other non-ferrous (non-iron) metals combined.
Later Life and Legacy
Hall continued to work on new inventions and improve aluminum production for the rest of his life. He received 22 US patents, mostly related to making aluminum. He was also a member of the Board of Trustees at Oberlin College. He served as the vice-president of Alcoa until he passed away.
Charles Hall died on December 27, 1914, in Daytona, Florida. He was 51 years old. He was buried in Westwood Cemetery in Oberlin. It's interesting that Paul Héroult, who discovered the same process, also died in the same year as Hall, and they were both born in the same year.
In his will, Hall left most of his money to charity. His generous gifts helped create the Harvard-Yenching Institute. This important organization helps support higher education in Asia, especially in subjects like history and social studies.
Awards and Honors
In 1911, Hall received the Perkin Medal. This is a very important award given by the American section of the Society of Chemical Industry. In 1997, the way Hall discovered to make aluminum using electricity was named a National Historic Chemical Landmark by the American Chemical Society.
Charles Hall became one of Oberlin College's most important supporters. There is an aluminum statue of him on the campus. Because aluminum is light, students used to move Hall's statue around as a prank! Today, the statue is glued to a large granite block. It sits on the second floor of Oberlin's science center. Students still like to decorate the statue for holidays and other special events.
The home of Professor Jewett, who inspired Hall, is now preserved in Oberlin as the Oberlin Heritage Center. This center has an exhibit called Aluminum: The Oberlin Connection. It even shows a re-creation of Hall's 1886 experiment in his woodshed. The Hall House is also still in Oberlin, but the original woodshed was taken down a long time ago.
Patents
- US Patent 400,664, Process of reducing aluminium from its fluoride salts by electrolysis — C. M. Hall, applied 1886, granted 1889. TIFF Image of page from USPTO.
See also
In Spanish: Charles Martin Hall para niños
