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Article: Aluminum
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
- Author:
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ALUMINUM
ALUMINUM,
the most useful of the nonferrous metals, was first isolated in metallic form in 1825 by Hans Christian Oersted in Denmark. The metal remained a laboratory curiosity until 1854, when Henri Sainte-Claire Deville discovered a process using metallic sodium as a reductant that led to the first commercial production of aluminum. The price of the metal fell from $545 per pound in 1852 to $8 in 1885, and uses for the lightweight metal began to increase greatly. Emperor Napoleon III of France, for example, considered outfitting his army with lightweight aluminum armor and equipment, but the price of the metal remained too high for widespread use.
In 1886, an American, ...