Paul Héroult

The French scientist Paul (Louis-Toussaint) Héroult (1863-1914) was the inventor of the aluminium electrolysis and of the electric steel furnace.

Related Topics:
1863 - 1914 - Aluminium - Electrolysis - Steel - Furnace

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"Paul Héroult had none of the attributes of the traditional scholar.

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He was highstrung, unruly, occasionally hard and insolent; he did not fit the image of wise, disciplined men of science.

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He loved games, the company of women, travels by land and sea; he was a free spirit in an impetuous body.

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No comparison with the austere scientist, struggling with stubborn mysteries.

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His discoveries were not the result of long sleepless nights spent in a laboratory, or of complicated scientific demonstrations.

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Héroult loved life, and could not have borne such restrictions.

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Instead, his inventions appeared suddenly, out of the blue, a stroke of common sense, or of genius, sometimes during a lively

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game of billiards, his favorite pastime." (*)

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Paul Héroult read Henri Sainte-Claire Deville's treatise on aluminium, when he was 15 years old. At that time, aluminium was as expensive as silver.

Related Topics:
Henri Sainte-Claire Deville - Aluminium - Silver

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It was used mostly for luxury items and jewellery. Héroult wanted to make it cheaper.

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He succeeded in doing so when he discovered the electrolytic aluminium process in 1886.

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Strangely enough, the same year, in the United States, Charles Martin Hall (1863-1914) was

Related Topics:
United States - Charles Martin Hall

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discovering the very same process. Because of this the process was called the Hall-Heroult process.

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Héroult's second most important invention is the electric arc furnace for steel in 1900. The HÉROULT furnace gradually replaced the giant smelters for the production of a variety of steels.

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In 1905, Paul Héroult was invited to the United States as a technical advisor to several companies, and in particular to the United States Steel Corporation.

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Paul Héroult is renowned for other major inventions among which a

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self-sustained conduit still used to bring water down from mountain heights and across rivers to hydraulic power plants, avoiding the need to build expensive bridges.

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:(*) Christian Bickert, US Representative for Aluminium Péchiney, New Orleans, 1986

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