Charles Martin Hall (December 6, 1863–December 27, 1914) was an American inventor and engineer. He is best known for his invention in 1886 of an inexpensive method for producing aluminum, which became the first metal to attain widespread use since the prehistoric discovery of iron.
Charles Martin Hall was born the son of Herman Bassett Hall and Sophronia H. Brooks on December 6, 1863 in Thompson, Ohio. He had one brother and three sisters, one of...
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Charles Martin Hall (December 6, 1863–December 27, 1914) was an American inventor and engineer. He is best known for his invention in 1886 of an inexpensive method for producing aluminum, which became the first metal to attain widespread use since the prehistoric discovery of iron.
Charles Martin Hall was born the son of Herman Bassett Hall and Sophronia H. Brooks on December 6, 1863 in Thompson, Ohio. He had one brother and three sisters, one of whom died in infancy. One of his sisters was Julia Brainerd Hall (1859-1925), who helped him in his experiments according to Trescott 1977. His family moved to Oberlin, Ohio in 1873, and he graduated from Oberlin High School. In 1880 he enrolled in Oberlin College, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1885. Hall was encouraged in his scientific experiments, which took place in a woodshed behind his family home, with ideas and materials from Professor Frank Fanning Jewett (1844-1926). The Jewett home is preserved in Oberlin as the...
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