Henri Moissan
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2008-07-16T12:00:44Z
Emerson7
191157
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{{Infobox_Scientist
|name = Henri Moissan
|image = Henri Moissan.jpg
|imagesize = 180px
|caption = Ferdinand Frederick Henri Moissan
|birth_date = {{birth date|1852|9|28|mf=y}}
|birth_place = [[Paris]], [[France]]
|nationality = [[France]]
|death_date = {{death date and age|1907|2|20|1852|9|28}}
|death_place = [[Paris]], [[France]]
|field = [[Chemistry]]
|work_institution = [[Sorbonne]]
|alma_mater = [[Collège de Meaux]]</br>[[École Pratique des Haute Études]]
|doctoral_advisor = [[Pierre Paul Dehérain]]
|doctoral_students = [[Paul Lebeau]]<br/>[[Maurice Meslans]]
|known_for = Isolation of [[fluorine]]
|prizes = [[Nobel Prize for Chemistry]] (1906)
|religion =
|footnotes =
}}
'''Ferdinand Frederick Henri Moissan''' ([[September 28]], [[1852]] – [[February 20]], [[1907]]) was a [[France|French]] [[chemist]] who won the 1906 [[Nobel Prize in Chemistry]] for his work in isolating [[fluorine]] from its compounds.
== Preparation of fluorine ==
[[Fluorine|Fluorine's]] existence had been well known for many years, but all attempts to prepare it had failed – and some experimenters had died in the attempt.
Moissan eventually succeeded (in [[1886]]) in preparation by [[electrolysis|electrolyzing]] a [[solution]] of [[potassium hydrogen fluoride]] (KHF<sub>2</sub>) in liquid [[hydrogen fluoride]] (HF). The mixture was needed because hydrogen fluoride is a non-conductor. The device was built with [[platinum]]/[[iridium]] electrodes in a platinum holder and the apparatus was cooled to −50 [[Celsius|°C]]. The result was to completely isolate the hydrogen produced from the negative [[electrode]] from the fluorine produced at the positive one.<ref>{{cite journal
| title = Action d'un courant électrique sur l'acide fluorhydrique anhydre
| author = H. Moissan
| journal = Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des sciences
| year = 1886
| volume = 102
| issue =
| pages = 1543–1544
| url = http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k3058f/f1541.chemindefer
}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal
| title = Sur la décomposition de l'acide fluorhydrique par un courant électrique
| author = H. Moissan
| journal = Comptes rendus hebdomadaires des séances de l'Académie des sciences
| year = 1886
| volume = 103
| issue =
| pages = 202
| url = http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k3059r/f204.table
}}</ref> This is essentially still the way fluorine is produced today. For this achievement he was in [[1906]] awarded the [[Nobel Prize]].
== Further studies ==
Moissan went on to study fluorine chemistry in great detail, contributed to the development of the [[electric arc furnace]] and attempted to use pressure to synthesize [[diamond]]s from the more common form of [[carbon]]. In 1893, Moissan began studying fragments of a meteorite found in [[Meteor Crater]] near [[Diablo Canyon]] in [[Arizona]]. 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. In 1905, this mineral was named [[Moissanite]], in his honor.
==Life==
The family Moissan originated from Toulouse and moved to Paris, where Moissan was born [[September 28]], 1852, the son of a lesser officer of the eastern railway company and a seamstress. In 1864 they moved to [[Meaux]], where he attended the local school. In 1870 he left the school without the "grade universitaire" necessary to attend the university. He started working at a chemist in Paris where he was able to save a person intoxicated with [[arsenic]]. He decided to study chemistry and started first at the laboratory of [[Edmond Frémy]] and later at that of [[Pierre Paul Dehérain]]. Dehérain argued him into an academic career. The [[baccalauréat]] which was necessary to study at the university Moissan obtained in 1874 after a failed attempt. During his time in Paris he became friend of the chemist [[Alexandre Léon Étard]] and botanist Vasque.
He published his first scientific paper about the [[carbon dioxide]] and [[oxygen]] metabolism in plants with Dehérain in 1874. He left plant physiology and turned towards inorganic chemistry and his research on pyrophoric iron was well received by the two most prominent French inorganic chemists of that time, [[Henri Etienne Sainte-Claire Deville]] and [[Debray]]. Afer Moissan received his Ph.D. in 1880, his friend Landrine offered him a position at an analytic laboratory. His marriage to Léonie Lugan took place in 1882. They had a son in 1885. During the 1880s Moissan was focused on fluorine chemistry and especially the production of fluorine itself. He had no laboratory of his own, but used several laboratories, for example that of [[Charles Friedel]]. There he had access to a strong battery consisting of 90 [[Bunsen cell]]s which made it possible to observe a gas produced by the electrolysis of molten [[arsenic trichloride]]; the gas was reabsorbed by the arsenic trichloride. The electrolysis of [[hydrogen fluoride]] yielded [[fluorine]] on [[June 26]], 1886. The French academy of science sent three representatives, [[Marcellin Berthelot]], [[Henri Debray]] and [[Edmond Frémy]], to prove the results. Moissan was unable to reproduce his results, due to the fact that the hydrogen fluoride did not contain any traces of potassium fluoride, as in the previous experiment. After resolving the problem and demonstrating the production of fluorine several times, he was awarded a prize of 10,000 francs. The following years till 1891 he focused on the research of fluorine chemistry. He discovered numerous fluorine compounds, for example together with [[Paul Lebeau]] [[sulfur hexafluoride|SF<sub>6</sub>]] in 1901. His research in the production of [[boron]] and artificial [[diamond]]s and the development of an electrically heated oven which was capable to reach 3500°C using 2200 Ampere at 80 Volt followed until 1900.
His newly developed arc furnace opened the road to obtain [[boride]]s and [[carbide]]s of numerous elements, which was another research area of Moissan.
== Death ==
He died suddenly in [[Paris]] in February 1907, shortly after his return from receiving the Nobel Prize in [[Stockholm]]. His death was attributed to an acute [[appendicitis]]. It is not known whether his experiments with fluorine contributed to his early death.
== See also ==
* [[Chemistry]]
* [[Pharmacy]]
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
* {{cite journal
| title = Henri Moissan (To 150th Anniversary of His Birthday)
| author = A.G. Morachevskii
| journal = Journal Russian Journal of Applied Chemistry
| year = 2002
| volume = 75
| issue = 10
| pages = 1720–1722
| doi = 10.1023/A:1022268927198
}}
*{{cite journal
| title = Frederic Henri Moissan, on the 120th anniversary of his birth
| author = G. V. Samsonov, V. A. Obolonchik
| journal = Journal Powder Metallurgy and Metal Ceramics
| year = 1886
| volume = 11
| issue = 9
| pages = 766–768
| doi = 10.1007/BF00801283
}}
*{{cite journal
| quotes = yes
|last=Tressaud
|first=Alain
|authorlink=
|year=[[2006]]
|month=Oct
|title=Henri Moissan: winner of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry 1906
|journal=[[Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl.]]
|volume=45
|issue=41
|pages=6792–6
| publisher = | location =
| pmid = 16960820
|doi = 10.1002/anie.200601600
| bibcode = | oclc =| id = | url = | language = | format = | accessdate = | laysummary = | laysource = | laydate = | quote =
}}
*{{cite journal
| quotes = yes
|last=Royère
|first=C
|authorlink=
|year=[[1999]]
|month=Mar
|title=[The electric furnace of Henri Moissan at one hundred years: connection with the electric furnace, the solar furnace, the plasma furnace?]
|journal=[[Annales pharmaceutiques françaises]]
|volume=57
|issue=2
|pages=116–30
| publisher = | location = | issn =
| pmid = 10365467
| bibcode = | oclc =| id = | url = | language = | format = | accessdate = | laysummary = | laysource = | laydate = | quote =
}}
*{{cite journal
| quotes = yes
|last=Flahaut
|first=J
|authorlink=
|year=[[1999]]
|month=Mar
|title=[The scientific contributions of Moissan]
|journal=[[Annales pharmaceutiques françaises]]
|volume=57
|issue=2
|pages=101–7
| publisher = | location = | issn =
| pmid = 10365465
| bibcode = | oclc =| id = | url = | language = | format = | accessdate = | laysummary = | laysource = | laydate = | quote =
}}
*{{cite journal
| quotes = yes
|last=Viel
|first=C
|authorlink=
|year=[[1999]]
|month=Mar
|title=[Henri Moissn, first French Nobel prize winner in chemistry: the man, the picture collector]
|journal=[[Annales pharmaceutiques françaises]]
|volume=57
|issue=2
|pages=94–100
| publisher = | location = | issn =
| pmid = 10365464
| bibcode = | oclc =| id = | url = | language = | format = | accessdate = | laysummary = | laysource = | laydate = | quote =
}}
*{{cite journal
| quotes = yes
|last=Wery
|first=P
|authorlink=
|year=[[1986]]
|month=Jan
|title=[Fluoride is 100 years old]
|journal=[[Médecine et hygiène]]
|volume=45
|issue=1685
|pages=138
| publisher = | location = | issn =
| pmid = 3543628
| bibcode = | oclc =| id = | url = | language = | format = | accessdate = | laysummary = | laysource = | laydate = | quote =
}}
*{{cite journal
| quotes = yes
|last=Kempler
|first=K
|authorlink=
|year=[[1982]]
|month=Mar
|title=[On the 75th anniversary of the death of Henri Moissan]
|journal=[[Orvosi hetilap]]
|volume=123
|issue=12
|pages=740–1
| publisher = | location = | issn =
| pmid = 7041048
| bibcode = | oclc =| id = | url = | language = | format = | accessdate = | laysummary = | laysource = | laydate = | quote =
}}
*{{cite journal
| quotes = yes
|last=Kyle
|first=R A
|authorlink=
|coauthors=Shampo M A
|year=[[1979]]
|month=Oct
|title=Henri Moissan
|journal=[[Journal of the American Medical Association|JAMA]]
|volume=242
|issue=16
|pages=1748
| publisher = | location =
| pmid = 384036
| bibcode = | oclc =| id = | url = | language = | format = | accessdate = | laysummary = | laysource = | laydate = | quote =
|doi=10.1001/jama.242.16.1748
}}
*{{cite journal
| quotes = yes
|last=FABRE
|first=R
|authorlink=
|year=[[1953]]
|month=May
|title=[Ceremonies commemorating the centenary of the birth of Henri Moissan.]
|journal=[[Annales pharmaceutiques françaises]]
|volume=11
|issue=5
|pages=Suppl, 65–7
| publisher = | location = | issn =
| pmid = 13080837
| bibcode = | oclc =| id = | url = | language = | format = | accessdate = | laysummary = | laysource = | laydate = | quote =
}}
*[http://www.annales.org/archives/x/moissan.html La Vie et les travaux de Henri Moissan written by Paul Lebau in 1931]
==External links==
*[http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1906/moissan-bio.html Biography] Biography from Nobelprize.org website
*[http://www.scs.uiuc.edu/~mainzv/Web_Genealogy/Info/moissanffh.pdf Scientific genealogy]
*[http://www.britannica.com/nobel/micro/399_25.html Biography]
<br>{{Nobel Prize in Chemistry Laureates 1901-1925}}
<!-- Metadata: see [[Wikipedia:Persondata]] -->
{{Persondata
|NAME= Moissan, Henri
|ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Moissan, Ferdinand Frederick Henri
|SHORT DESCRIPTION= [[France|French]] [[Chemist]]
|DATE OF BIRTH= [[September 28]], [[1852]]
|PLACE OF BIRTH= [[Paris]], [[France]]
|DATE OF DEATH= [[February 20]], [[1907]]
|PLACE OF DEATH= [[Paris]], [[France]]
}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moissan, Henri}}
[[Category:Nobel laureates in Chemistry]]
[[Category:Members of the French Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:French Nobel laureates]]
[[Category:French chemists]]
[[Category:Jewish scientists]]
[[Category:French Jews]]
[[Category:1852 births]]
[[Category:1907 deaths]]
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