János Irinyi (sometimes also spelled ''János Irínyi''; ; 18 May 1817 – 17 December 1895) was a Hungarian chemist and inventor of the noiseless and non-explosive
match
A match is a tool for starting a fire. Typically, matches are made of small wooden sticks or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by friction generated by striking the match against a suitable surface. Wooden matc ...
. He achieved this by mixing the yellow (also called white)
phosphorus
Phosphorus is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol P and atomic number 15. All elemental forms of phosphorus are highly Reactivity (chemistry), reactive and are therefore never found in nature. They can nevertheless be prepared ar ...
with
lead dioxide instead of the
potassium chlorate
Potassium chlorate is the inorganic compound with the molecular formula KClO3. In its pure form, it is a white solid. After sodium chlorate, it is the second most common chlorate in industrial use. It is a strong oxidizing agent and its most impor ...
used previously.
Hungarian Patent Office
; this site's mention of calcium chlorate rather than potassium chlorate appears to be an error?
Irinyi also took part in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848
The Hungarian Revolution of 1848, also known in Hungary as Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence of 1848–1849 () was one of many Revolutions of 1848, European Revolutions of 1848 and was closely linked to other revolutions of 1848 in ...
.
Asteroid
Asteroid 106869 Irinyi, discovered by Hungarian astronomer Krisztián Sárneczky and László L. Kiss at Piszkéstető Station in 2000, was named in his memory. The official was published by the Minor Planet Center
The Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the official body for observing and reporting on minor planets under the auspices of the International Astronomical Union (IAU). Founded in 1947, it operates at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.
Funct ...
on 22 January 2008 ().
References
External links
János Irinyi
1817 births
1895 deaths
People from Bihor County
Hungarian inventors
Hungarian chemists
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