Ferdinand Frederick Henri Moissan, a French Chemist and Noble Laureate, was born into a modest family in the mid-nineteenth century. From a young age, he developed a passion for chemistry, leading him to neglect other subjects and ultimately leaving school without a ‘grade universitaire’. However, under the guidance of renowned chemists such as Edmond Frémy and Pierre Paul Dehérain, Moissan was encouraged to pursue formal education and successfully passed the baccalauréat exam. He went on to complete his doctoral thesis under Dehérain, focusing on inorganic chemistry and conducting groundbreaking research on fluorine. Moissan’s perseverance paid off when he successfully isolated fluorine, earning him the prestigious Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1906. Not content with this achievement, he continued his research and made significant discoveries alongside his students. Additionally, Moissan’s contributions extended beyond his scientific work, as he developed an arc furnace that was later named after him. Known for his meticulousness, patience, and exceptional teaching abilities, Moissan left a lasting impact on the field of chemistry.
Quick Facts
- French Celebrities Born In September Also Known As: Муассан, Анри
- Died At Age: 54
- Died on: February 20, 1907
- Place of death: Paris
- City: Paris
- Education: École pratique des hautes études
- Awards: 1906 – Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Elliott Cresson Medal
Childhood & Early Life
Ferdinand Frederick Henri Moissan was born in Paris on 28 September 1852, in a family of Sephardic Jews, originally from South West of France. His father, Francis Ferdinand Moissan, was a junior officer in the Eastern Railway Company and his mother, Joséphine Améraldine (née Mitel), was a seamstress.
In 1864, when Henri was twelve years old, the family moved to Meaux. Here at Collège de Meaux, he came under the influence of a brilliant chemistry teacher. The teacher initiated young Henri into the magical world of chemistry. Henri became so engrossed in the subject that he studied little else.
Consequently, in 1870, he had to leave the school without acquiring the qualification necessary for getting admission to the university. He therefore, began working as an apprentice for a pharmacist in Paris. Sometime now, he saved a man, suffering from arsenic poisoning. Wiser now, he decided to pursue chemistry.
However, without the necessary qualification, he could not get admission into any recognized university. Therefore, he joined Edmond Frémy’s laboratory at Musée d’Histoire Naturelle. Here he attended lectures by E.H. Sainte-Claire Deville and Jules Henri Debray.
The following year, Moissan shifted to the laboratory of Pierre Paul Dehérain at the École Pratique des Haute Études. Incidentally, Dehérain was one of Frémy’s students and so Moissan might have joined Dehérain on Frémy’s advice. All along, he supported himself by giving tuition.
Dehérain advised young Moissan to gain academic qualification. In 1874, four years after leaving his school, Moissan passed baccalauréat, a prerequisite for getting admission in the university. In the same year, he also published a paper jointly with Dehérain on carbon-dioxide and oxygen metabolism in plants.
Very soon, Moissan’s interest turned to inorganic chemistry and he began his research on pyrophoric iron. His paper on this topic was much appreciated by Henri Etienne Sainte-Claire Deville and Jules Henri Debray, the two leading inorganic chemists of that time.
With the publication of the paper Moissan got a job at the School of Pharmacy in Paris. Since the salary was not much he took over a customer analysis laboratory for additional income. He also used the space to experiment on chromic acid.
As his business failed to take off, he joined Jules Henri Debray and Lois Joseph Troost at the laboratory of the University of Paris, popularly known as Sorbonne. Finally in 1879, he got a job at Agronomic Institute and in 1880, he received his PhD. His doctoral thesis was on cyanogens.
Major Works
Isolation of fluorine by electrolyzing the solution of potassium hydrogen difluoride and liquid hydrogen fluoride is one of Moissan’s most important works. Hydrogen produced by the process accumulated at the negative electrode while the fluorine was isolated at the positive electrode. This process of isolating fluorine is followed even today.
Moissan was also a prolific writer and had more than one hundred publications to his credit. ‘Le Four Électrique’ (The Electric-Arc Furnace) published in 1897, ‘Le Fluor et ses Composé’ (Fluorine and Its Compounds) published in 1900 and ‘Traité de Chimie Minerale’ (Treatise on Inorganic Chemistry) published in five volumes from 1904 to 1906 are some of his more significant works.
Awards & Achievements
In 1906, Moissan received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. According to the Swedish Academy, the prize was awarded “in recognition of the great services rendered by him in his investigation and isolation of the element fluorine, and for the adoption in the service of science of the electric furnace called after him”
He was also awarded the Davy Medal by Royal Society of London in 1896, Prix Lacaze in 1897, Elliot Cresson Medal by the Franklin Institute in 1898 and August Wilhelm von Hofmann Gold Medal by German Chemical society in 1903.
Moissan was also elected member of the Académie de Médecine in 1888, a member of Académie des Sciences in 1891, a member of Conseil d’Hygiène de la Seine in 1895 and a member of Comité Consultatif des Arts et Manufactures in 1898.
Sometime in the beginning of the twentieth century Moisaan was made a Commandeur de la Légion d’Honneur by the Government of France. He was also awarded Fellowships of the Royal Society of London and The Chemical Society (London).
Personal Life & Legacy
In 1882, Moissan married Marie Léonie Lugan. She was the daughter of the pharmacist under whom Moissan took up his first job. The union was lucky for him because it solved much of his financial problems and he could concentrate more on his work. The couple had a son born in 1885.
Moissan died on 20 February 1907 shortly after his return from Stockholm, where he went to receive his Nobel Prize. It was a sudden death and might have been caused by acute case of appendicitis.
Moissanite, naturally found silicon carbide regarded as an alternative to diamond, has been named after Henri Moissan. He discovered this rare mineral from rock samples of a meteoroid found in Arizona, USA in 1893.