Ohio, United States. Charles Hall, while studying at Oberlin College, passes a current through a solution containing aluminum, releasing the precious metal, which precipitates to the bottom in the form of flakes. Hall is only 23 years old and has found a sort of philosopher’s stone, as aluminum is worth more than gold at the time. But his fortune won’t be immediate. In 1887, the Austrian Carl-Joseph Bayer will invent a similar process, and Hall, spurred by competition, will found in Pittsburgh what will become the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa), one of the most profitable companies in history. Aluminum production will increase from 22 kg/day in 1888 to 40 tons/day in 1908, and the price will plummet from $550/pound to $18 on the Chicago Stock Exchange, eventually falling to $0.25/pound. Hall will become frighteningly rich, and Aluminum will become a terribly common metal, so much so that it will become disposable…
