Francis Thomas Bacon Facts for Kids

Francis Thomas Bacon OBE FREng FRS (born December 21, 1904 – died May 24, 1992) was an English engineer. He is famous for creating the first useful hydrogen–oxygen fuel cell in 1932. This amazing invention is still used today to power space capsules and satellites.

Who Was Francis Bacon?
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Who Was Francis Bacon?

Francis Thomas Bacon was born in 1904 in Billericay, England. He was an engineer who studied at Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1932, he developed the fuel cell that became a key part of the Apollo moon missions in the 1960s.

Fuel cells were first shown by Sir William Robert Grove in 1839. But his idea wasn't widely used for over 100 years until Bacon brought it back to life. The alkaline fuel cell (AFC), also known as the Bacon fuel cell, has been used in NASA space programs since the mid-1960s. It helps create power for satellites and space capsules.

After the successful Apollo 11 moon landing in July 1969, U.S. President Richard Nixon met Bacon. He told him, "Without you Tom, we wouldn't have gotten to the moon.” Tom and his wife Barbara also met astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. This happened at a party hosted by British Prime Minister Harold Wilson at 10 Downing Street.

Early Life and Inspiration

Francis Bacon was related to the famous philosopher Sir Francis Bacon. He went to school at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge. After college, he became an apprentice with an engineering company in Newcastle upon Tyne. This company was owned by Sir Charles Parsons, who greatly influenced Bacon.

How the Fuel Cell Was Developed

The basic idea of a fuel cell had been shown by Sir William Grove in 1839. Other scientists had also tried different types of fuel cells. But Francis Bacon was an engineer. He was good at working with machines that used high temperatures and pressures.

He first tried using platinum with sulphuric acid. But he soon switched to using nickel electrodes with a liquid called potassium hydroxide. In January 1940, he moved to a lab at King's College London. There, he created a "double cell." One part made the hydrogen and oxygen gases. The other part was the fuel cell itself. This system could also work in reverse, acting as both a fuel cell and a device to split water. They faced challenges because of the high heat, pressure, and corrosive chemicals.

Making it Better

In 1946, Bacon's work moved to Cambridge University. His team found a special kind of porous nickel sheet. They used this to make electrodes with large holes on the gas side and smaller holes on the liquid side. This made the fuel cell much more stable.

As more money became available, the work moved again to the Department of Chemical Engineering. The team solved the problem of corrosion (rusting) on the oxygen electrode. They did this by soaking the nickel electrodes in lithium hydroxide solution, then drying and heating them. In 1959, with help from Marshall of Cambridge Ltd., they publicly showed a 5 kW fuel cell battery. It had forty cells and worked with 60% efficiency.

Powering Space Missions

The patents for Bacon's fuel cell were bought by Pratt & Whitney. This company used them to provide electricity for the Apollo program to land people on the moon. The fuel cells were perfect for space missions for several reasons:

They become more efficient as less power is needed, unlike other engines.
Hydrogen and oxygen gases were already on the spacecraft for propulsion and life support.
The water produced by the fuel cell was a useful byproduct. It could be used for drinking and to add moisture to the air inside the capsule.

Later Life and Legacy

Later in his life, Bacon worked as a consultant for engineering companies like Energy Conversion Limited and Johnson Matthey. He was a founding member of the Fellowship of Engineering. He was also the first honorary member of the European Fuel Cell Group.

Francis Thomas Bacon facts for kids

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