Hall, Charles Martin (1863–1914)

US chemist who developed a process for the commercial production of aluminium 1886. A similar process was independently but simultaneously developed in France by Paul Héroult.

He found that when dissolved in cryolite (sodium aluminum fluoride), the melting point of aluminum was lowered and electrolysis became commercially viable. It had previously been as costly as gold.

By 1890, Hall was in charge of the Aluminum Company of the USA and aluminum utensils began to spread throughout the world.

Hall was born in Ohio and educated at Oberlin. He invented the aluminium process at 22 and, after initial difficulties, formed the Pittsburgh Reduction Company (later to become the Aluminum Company of America) and became a multimillionaire.