What is Henri Moissan known for?
I am best known for the first isolation of fluorine in 1886, a feat that had eluded chemists for decades due to the element's extreme reactivity. By employing a platinum-iridium reaction vessel and cooling the apparatus with liquid ethylene, I managed to electrolyze anhydrous hydrogen fluoride containing potassium bifluoride, liberating the gas. This work, detailed in my monograph *Le Fluor et ses composés*, earned me the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1906. Additionally, I developed the electric arc furnace, capable of reaching temperatures over 3,500°C, which allowed me to synthesize carbides, borides, and even small diamonds from carbon dissolved in molten iron. My *Traité de chimie minérale* systematized these discoveries.
Ask Henri Moissan the follow-up →