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Eberhard Sass: Difference between revisions
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In 1808, [[Bergendii]] [[Eviand d'Estac|Dr. Eviand-Marceaux Rexard d'Estac]] had predicted the existence of the metal which he gave the name of alumium. However his attempts to isolate it using electrolysis processes were unsuccessful; the closest he came was an aluminium-iron alloy. Sass succeeded in isolating the metallic form by reacting aluminium chloride with potassium amalgam (an alloy of potassium and mercury) and then boiling away the mercury, which left small "chunks" of metal that he described as appearing similar to tin. He presented his results and a sample of the metal at meetings of the [[University of Collinebourg]] in early 1826, but otherwise appears to have considered his discovery to be of limited importance. | In 1808, [[Bergendii]] [[Eviand d'Estac|Dr. Eviand-Marceaux Rexard d'Estac]] had predicted the existence of the metal which he gave the name of alumium. However his attempts to isolate it using electrolysis processes were unsuccessful; the closest he came was an aluminium-iron alloy. Sass succeeded in isolating the metallic form by reacting aluminium chloride with potassium amalgam (an alloy of potassium and mercury) and then boiling away the mercury, which left small "chunks" of metal that he described as appearing similar to tin. He presented his results and a sample of the metal at meetings of the [[University of Collinebourg]] in early 1826, but otherwise appears to have considered his discovery to be of limited importance. | ||
This ambivalence, coupled with the limited audience for the [University of Collinebourg]]'s journal in which the results had been published, meant that the discovery went mostly unnoticed by the wider scientific community at the time. Busy with other work, it was not until 1845 that Sass once again worked on aluminium, isolating a quantity of solid metal sufficient for him to describe some of its physical properties. | This ambivalence, coupled with the limited audience for the [[University of Collinebourg]]'s journal in which the results had been published, meant that the discovery went mostly unnoticed by the wider scientific community at the time. Busy with other work, it was not until 1845 that Sass once again worked on aluminium, isolating a quantity of solid metal sufficient for him to describe some of its physical properties. | ||
Sass retired to [[Gabion]], [[Vandarcôte County]] in 1851 and lived out final days in relative obscurity there. | Sass retired to [[Gabion]], [[Vandarcôte County]] in 1851 and lived out final days in relative obscurity there. | ||