Ferdinand Frédéric Henri Moissan (28 September 1852 – 20 February 1907) was a French chemist and pharmacist who won the 1906
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...
for his work in isolating
fluorine
Fluorine is a chemical element with the symbol F and atomic number 9. It is the lightest halogen and exists at standard conditions as a highly toxic, pale yellow diatomic gas. As the most electronegative reactive element, it is extremely reacti ...
from its compounds. Moissan was one of the original members of the
International Atomic Weights Committee.
Biography
Early life and education
Moissan was born in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
on 28 September 1852, the son of a minor officer of the
eastern railway company, Francis Ferdinand Moissan, and a seamstress, Joséphine Améraldine (née Mitel).
His mother was of Jewish descent,
his father was not.
In 1864 they moved to
Meaux
Meaux () is a commune on the river Marne in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is east-northeast of the centre of Paris.
Meaux is, with Provins, Torcy and Fontainebleau, ...
, where he attended the local school. During this time, Moissan became an apprentice clockmaker. However, in 1870, Moissan and his family moved back to Paris due to war against Prussia. Moissan was unable to receive the ''grade universitaire'' necessary to attend university. After spending a year in the army, he enrolled at the Ecole Superieure de Pharmacie de Paris.
Scientific career
Moissan became a trainee in pharmacy in 1871 and in 1872 he began working for a chemist in Paris, where he was able to save a person poisoned with
arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal. Arsenic is a metalloid. It has various allotropes, but ...
. He decided to study chemistry and began first in the laboratory of
Edmond Frémy
Edmond Frémy (; 28 February 1814 – 3 February 1894) was a French chemist. He is perhaps best known today for Frémy's salt, a strong oxidizing agent which he discovered in 1845. Fremy's salt is a long-lived free radical that finds use as a s ...
at the Musée d’Histoire Naturelle, and later in that of
Pierre Paul Dehérain at the École Pratique des Haute Études.
Dehérain persuaded him to pursue an academic career. He passed the
baccalauréat
The ''baccalauréat'' (; ), often known in France colloquially as the ''bac'', is a French national academic qualification that students can obtain at the completion of their secondary education (at the end of the ''lycée'') by meeting certain ...
, which was necessary to study at university, in 1874 after an earlier failed attempt. He also became qualified as first-class pharmacist at the École Supérieure de Pharmacie in 1879, and received his doctoral degree there in 1880.
He soon climbed through the ranks of the School of Pharmacy, and was appointed Assistant Lecturer, Senior Demonstrator, and finally Professor of Toxicology by 1886. He took the Chair of Inorganic Chemistry in 1899. The following year, he succeeded
Louis Joseph Troost
Louis Joseph Troost (17 October 1825, Paris – 30 September 1911) was a French chemist.
Biography
In 1848 he began his studies at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, where from 1851 he worked as an assistant chemist. In 1856 he receiv ...
as Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the
Sorbonne
Sorbonne may refer to:
* Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities.
*the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970)
*one of its components or linked institution, ...
.
During his time in Paris he became a friend of the chemist
Alexandre Léon Étard and the botanist Vasque.
His marriage, to Léonie Lugan, took place in 1882. They had a son in 1885, named Louis Ferdinand Henri.
Death
He died suddenly in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
in February 1907, shortly after his return from receiving the Nobel Prize in
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
.
His death was attributed to an acute case of appendicitis, however, there is speculation that repeated exposure to fluorine and carbon monoxide also contributed to his death.
Awards and honors
During his extensive career, Moissan authored more than three hundred publications, won the 1906
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...
for the first isolation of
fluorine
Fluorine is a chemical element with the symbol F and atomic number 9. It is the lightest halogen and exists at standard conditions as a highly toxic, pale yellow diatomic gas. As the most electronegative reactive element, it is extremely reacti ...
, in addition to the
Prix Lucaze
Prix was an American power pop band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1975 by Tommy Hoehn and Jon Tiven. The group ended up primarily as a studio project. Its recordings were produced by Tiven along with former Big Star member Chris Bell, who ...
, the
Davy Medal
The Davy Medal is awarded by the Royal Society of London "for an outstandingly important recent discovery in any branch of chemistry". Named after Humphry Davy, the medal is awarded with a monetary gift, initially of £1000 (currently £2000).
H ...
, the
Hofmann Medal
Hoffman is a surname of German and Jewish origin. The original meaning in medieval times was "steward", i.e. one who manages the property of another. In English and other European languages, including Yiddish and Dutch, the name can also be spell ...
, and the
Elliott Cresson Medal
The Elliott Cresson Medal, also known as the Elliott Cresson Gold Medal, was the highest award given by the Franklin Institute. The award was established by Elliott Cresson, life member of the Franklin Institute, with $1,000 granted in 1848. The ...
. He was elected fellow of the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
and
The Chemical Society of London
The Chemical Society was a scientific society formed in 1841 (then named the Chemical Society of London) by 77 scientists as a result of increased interest in scientific matters. Chemist Robert Warington was the driving force behind its creation.
...
, served on the
International Atomic Weights Committee and made a ''commandeur'' in the
Légion d'honneur
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...
.
Research
Moissan published his first scientific paper, about
carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide (chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is transpar ...
and
oxygen
Oxygen is the chemical element with the symbol O and atomic number 8. It is a member of the chalcogen group in the periodic table, a highly reactive nonmetal, and an oxidizing agent that readily forms oxides with most elements as wel ...
metabolism in plants, with Dehérain in 1874. He left plant physiology and then turned towards inorganic chemistry; subsequently his research on
pyrophoric
A substance is pyrophoric (from grc-gre, πυροφόρος, , 'fire-bearing') if it ignites spontaneously in air at or below (for gases) or within 5 minutes after coming into contact with air (for liquids and solids). Examples are organolith ...
iron was well received by the two most prominent French inorganic chemists of that time,
Henri Étienne Sainte-Claire Deville
Henri Étienne Sainte-Claire Deville (11 March 18181 July 1881) was a French chemist.
He was born in the island of St Thomas in the Danish West Indies, where his father was French consul. Together with his elder brother Charles he was educate ...
and
Jules Henri Debray
Jules Henri Debray (26 July 1827, in Amiens – 19 July 1888, in Paris) was a French chemist.
In 1847 he began his studies at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, and several years later became an instructor at the Lycée Charlemagne (185 ...
. After Moissan received his Ph.D. on cyanogen and its reactions to form cyanures in 1880, his friend Landrine offered him a position at an analytic laboratory.
Isolation of Fluorine
![Moissan color images](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/40/Moissan_color_images.jpg)
During the 1880s, Moissan focused on
fluorine
Fluorine is a chemical element with the symbol F and atomic number 9. It is the lightest halogen and exists at standard conditions as a highly toxic, pale yellow diatomic gas. As the most electronegative reactive element, it is extremely reacti ...
chemistry and especially the production of fluorine itself. The existence of the element had been well known for many years, but all attempts to isolate it had failed, and some experimenters had died in the attempt.
He had no laboratory of his own, but borrowed lab space from others, including
Charles Friedel
Charles Friedel (; 12 March 1832 – 20 April 1899) was a French chemist and Mineralogy, mineralogist.
Life
A native of Strasbourg, France, he was a student of Louis Pasteur at the University of Paris, Sorbonne. In 1876, he became a professor of ...
. There he had access to a strong battery consisting of 90
Bunsen cell
The Bunsen cell is a zinc-carbon primary cell (colloquially called a "battery") composed of a zinc anode in dilute sulfuric acid separated by a porous pot from a carbon cathode in nitric or chromic acid.
Cell details
The Bunsen cell is abou ...
s which made it possible to observe a gas produced by the electrolysis of molten
arsenic trichloride
Arsenic trichloride is an inorganic compound with the formula AsCl3, also known as arsenous chloride or butter of arsenic. This poisonous oil is colourless, although impure samples may appear yellow. It is an intermediate in the manufacture of ...
; the gas was reabsorbed by the arsenic trichloride.
Moissan eventually succeeded in isolating fluorine in 1886 by the
electrolysis
In chemistry and manufacturing, electrolysis is a technique that uses direct electric current (DC) to drive an otherwise non-spontaneous chemical reaction. Electrolysis is commercially important as a stage in the separation of elements from n ...
of a
solution
Solution may refer to:
* Solution (chemistry), a mixture where one substance is dissolved in another
* Solution (equation), in mathematics
** Numerical solution, in numerical analysis, approximate solutions within specified error bounds
* Soluti ...
of
potassium hydrogen difluoride (KHF
2) in liquid
hydrogen fluoride
Hydrogen fluoride (fluorane) is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . This colorless gas or liquid is the principal industrial source of fluorine, often as an aqueous solution called hydrofluoric acid. It is an important feedstock i ...
(HF). The mixture was necessary because hydrogen fluoride is a nonconductor. The device was built with
platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver".
Platinu ...
-
iridium
Iridium is a chemical element with the symbol Ir and atomic number 77. A very hard, brittle, silvery-white transition metal of the platinum group, it is considered the second-densest naturally occurring metal (after osmium) with a density of ...
electrodes in a platinum holder and the apparatus was cooled to −50 °C. The result was the complete separation of the hydrogen produced at the negative
electrode
An electrode is an electrical conductor used to make contact with a nonmetallic part of a circuit (e.g. a semiconductor, an electrolyte, a vacuum or air). Electrodes are essential parts of batteries that can consist of a variety of materials de ...
from the fluorine produced at the positive one, first achieved on 26 June 1886. This remains the current standard method for commercial fluorine production.
The French Academy of Science sent three representatives,
Marcellin Berthelot
Pierre Eugène Marcellin Berthelot (; 25 October 1827 – 18 March 1907) was a French chemist and Republican politician noted for the ThomsenBerthelot principle of thermochemistry. He synthesized many organic compounds from inorganic substance ...
,
Henri Debray, and
Edmond Frémy
Edmond Frémy (; 28 February 1814 – 3 February 1894) was a French chemist. He is perhaps best known today for Frémy's salt, a strong oxidizing agent which he discovered in 1845. Fremy's salt is a long-lived free radical that finds use as a s ...
, to verify the results, but Moissan was unable to reproduce them, owing to the absence from the hydrogen fluoride of traces of potassium fluoride present in the previous experiments. After resolving the problem and demonstrating the production of fluorine several times, he was awarded a prize of 10,000 francs. For the first successful isolation, he was awarded the 1906
Nobel Prize in Chemistry
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then "M ...
.
Following his grand achievement, his research focused on characterizing fluorine's chemistry. He discovered numerous fluorine compounds, such as (together with
Paul Lebeau
Paul Marie Alfred Lebeau (19 December 1868 – 18 November 1959) was a French chemist. He studied at the elite École supérieure de physique et de chimie industrielles de la ville de Paris (ESPCI). Together with his doctoral advisor Henri Mo ...
)
sulfur hexafluoride
Sulfur hexafluoride or sulphur hexafluoride (British spelling) is an inorganic compound with the formula SF6. It is a colorless, odorless, non- flammable, and non-toxic gas. has an octahedral geometry, consisting of six fluorine atoms attached ...
in 1901.
Further studies
![Henri Moissan making diamonds](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5e/Henri_Moissan_making_diamonds.jpg)
Moissan contributed to the development of the
electric arc furnace
An electric arc furnace (EAF) is a furnace that heats material by means of an electric arc.
Industrial arc furnaces range in size from small units of approximately one-tonne capacity (used in foundries for producing cast iron products) up to ab ...
, which opened several paths to developing and preparing new compounds, and attempted to use pressure to produce
synthetic diamond
Lab-grown diamond (LGD; also called laboratory-grown, laboratory-created, man-made, artisan-created, artificial, synthetic, or cultured diamond) is diamond that is produced in a controlled technological process (in contrast to naturally formed ...
s from the more common form of
carbon
Carbon () is a chemical element with the symbol C and atomic number 6. It is nonmetallic and tetravalent
In chemistry, the valence (US spelling) or valency (British spelling) of an element is the measure of its combining capacity with o ...
. He also used the furnace to synthesize the
borides A boride is a compound between boron and a less electronegative element, for example silicon boride (SiB3 and SiB6). The borides are a very large group of compounds that are generally high melting and are covalent more than ionic in nature. Some bo ...
and
carbides
In chemistry, a carbide usually describes a compound composed of carbon and a metal. In metallurgy, carbiding or carburizing is the process for producing carbide coatings on a metal piece.
Interstitial / Metallic carbides
The carbides of the ...
of numerous elements.
Calcium carbide was a noticeable accomplishment as this paved the way for the development of the chemistry of acetylene.
In 1893, Moissan began studying fragments of a meteorite found in
Meteor Crater
Meteor Crater, or Barringer Crater, is a meteorite impact crater about east of Flagstaff and west of Winslow in the desert of northern Arizona, United States. The site had several earlier names, and fragments of the meteorite are official ...
near
Diablo Canyon in
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
. In these fragments he discovered minute quantities of a new mineral and, after extensive research, Moissan concluded that this mineral was made of
silicon carbide
Silicon carbide (SiC), also known as carborundum (), is a hard chemical compound containing silicon and carbon. A semiconductor, it occurs in nature as the extremely rare mineral moissanite, but has been mass-produced as a powder and crystal sin ...
. In 1905, this mineral was named
moissanite
Moissanite () is naturally occurring silicon carbide and its various crystalline polymorphs. It has the chemical formula SiC and is a rare mineral, discovered by the French chemist Henri Moissan in 1893. Silicon carbide is useful for commercial ...
, in his honor. In 1903 Moissan was elected member of the
International Atomic Weights Committee where he served until his death.
References
Further reading
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External links
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Scientific genealogy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moissan, Henri
1852 births
1907 deaths
Nobel laureates in Chemistry
French Nobel laureates
Scientists from Paris
Members of the French Academy of Sciences
19th-century French chemists
French pharmacists
French people of Jewish descent
Inorganic chemists
Foreign Members of the Royal Society
Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences
20th-century French chemists
Fluorine
Deaths from appendicitis
Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery