Moissan (Moissan), Henry

September 28, 1852, Mr.. - 20 February 1907
French chemist Ferdinand Frederic Henri Moissan was born in Paris. His father was an employee of Eastern Railway Company, and his mother - a dressmaker. When in 1864. Moissan's family moved to Mo, the boy entered the municipal gymnasium. In high school future scientists met a talented teacher of mathematics and natural sciences, who was involved with MA-schoolboy and an additional free. M. so purposefully began to study chemistry, that neglected other subjects and at the end of the school in 1870. was not accepted to the university.
After two years of service, assistant pharmacist, he began working at the Museum of Natural History at the chemist Edmond Frema. In 1874,. M. transferred to the laboratory of Pierre Paul Dhere in the Higher Polytechnic School - a prestigious Polytechnic Institute, where he studied the physiology of plants. Dhere persuaded M. complete her education, and he entered the University of Paris, where in 1974. earn a BA and three years later - Master. In 1880, Mr.. M. was awarded a doctoral degree in inorganic chemistry for his work on the oxides of chromium.
To earn a living, M. for some time led the industrial laboratory, and from 1879 to 1883. worked as an assistant lecturer at the Higher School of Pharmacy in Paris and conducted laboratory classes there. In 1882, Mr.. M. married Leoni Lyugan, the daughter of his old friend, the apothecary of Mo. In the couple had one son. Family wife M. provided them with financial assistance that enabled scholars to continue their studies without worrying about earnings. In 1886. He was elected professor of toxicology at the Higher School of Pharmacy, and three years later became a professor of inorganic chemistry.
Not burdened with financial worries, M. devoted himself to the problem, which for 80 years defied solution by chemical analysis. The similarity between hydrochloric and hydrofluoric acids, indicating the existence of fluorine is chemically very active element, belonging to the group of halogens (which also includes chlorine, bromine and iodine). Nevertheless, all attempts to provide free chlorine from the molten fluoride salts failed, . because at high temperature, . that it had entailed, . liberated fluorine react with water, . receptacle, . where the reaction took place, . with electrodes.,
. Anhydrous Hydrogen fluoride does not conduct electric current
. Given this fact, M. in 1886. able to provide free fluoride, using as an electrolyte, anhydrous potassium fluoride, dissolved in anhydrous hydrofluoric acid, and platinoiridievye electrodes. Due to technical difficulties associated with obtaining fluorine at high temperatures, M. investigated the chemical properties of fluorine compounds at very low temperatures. Together with the Scottish chemist James Dewar, he received a liquid fluorine at - 185 б° C, which even at this temperature continued to react with hydrogen and carbohydrates. Study of this most chemically active of all known elements in the end led to the discovery of carbon-tetrafluoride, methyl, ethyl and izobutilftoridov and sulfurilftoridov. Modern use of fluoride involves separating uranium-235 from uranium-238 in the form of uranium hexafluoride.
M. investigated and fluorine compounds with metals: platinum, alkaline earth metals, silver and manganese, as well as non-metallic iodidnentaftorid and nitrilftorid. Since fluorine and its compounds are highly toxic, they seriously undermine the health research. Later, M. so appreciative of this period: 'Fluoride was taken from me 10 years of life'.
In addition to studying the properties of fluorine compounds, M. developed technology of boron, which ensures obtaining pure (99 per cent) of boron in comparison with previously obtained 70 per cent. He hoped also to ensure provision of diamond crystals in the decomposition of hydrofluorocarbons as diamond, coal, graphite, lampblack and Coke have been known as various forms of carbon. Despite the fact that these attempts failed, conducted by M. analytical work on diamonds indicated that they often contain traces of iron. Since it is known that iron dissolves carbon and that diamonds are formed under conditions of high temperature and high pressure, M. tried to get the diamonds, exposing the high-pressure molten iron saturated with carbon. He has high blood pressure, plunging the molten carbon-iron into cold water. This carbon-rich iron expanded inside formed as a result of cooling of iron crust and thus create a high internal pressure. M. claimed that this technology will ensure that small diamonds, but his hopes were not realized.
Despite the fact that the work of M. for the production of diamonds turned out to be fruitless, they developed the technology was of great practical importance. To achieve extremely high temperatures, he constructed an electric arc furnace, where the temperature reaches the heating 3500 б° C. With this invention, M. became the founder of chemistry of high temperatures. He continued to study the conditions of melting and evaporation of substances, which were thought of keeping the transition to the vapor state, including zirconium, molybdenum, manganese, chromium, thorium, tungsten, platinum, uranium, titanium and vanadium. M. found that at very high temperatures, carbon, boron and silicon, which are inactive at ordinary temperatures, react with many elements and form, respectively, carbides, borides and silicides. He also received silicon carbide (carborundum). Scientific discoveries M. immediately found application in industry, for example, in the production of acetylene from calcium carbide.
In 1906, Mr.. M. was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 'for a considerable amount of research he has done, for receiving the element fluorine, and an introduction to laboratory and industrial practice of electric furnace named after him'. Presenting it on behalf of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, п?.п?. Klason said: 'The whole world admired the great skill of the experimenter, with whom you identified and examined fluoride ... With the help of your electric, you solved the riddle formation of diamonds in nature. You told a powerful impetus to the world of technology, and it is not yet fully implemented '. M. not delivered the Nobel lecture.
With a wide range of interests, M. loved art, music and literature, as a student even wrote a play. He collected paintings, prints and autographs - especially the era of the French Revolution - and very fond of traveling.
By shifting the brutal attack of appendicitis, M. February 16, 1907, Mr.. lay on the operation. Chronic heart failure and years of working with toxic chemicals weakened his body, and four days later he died at the age of 54 years.
In addition to the Nobel Prize, M. Davey received a medal of the Royal Society of London (1896) and Medal of August Wilhelm von Hoffmann Germanskogo Chemical Society (1903). He was a member of the French Academy of Medicine and the French Academy of Sciences and a foreign member of the Royal London, the British chemical and other scientific societies. In 1900, Mr.. M. was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor.