The method of separating aluminum from bauxite using electricity, without using the chemical action of sodium, significantly reduced the cost of aluminum, first bringing it below the cost of silver and then even below that of copper. The method developed by Frenchman Paul Heroult and American Charles Martin Hall, still in use today, propelled aluminum to the center of 20th-century industry, enabling applications such as aeronautics, carbonated beverage packaging, food preservation in film, and many others.
