Julia Brainerd Hall
| Julia Brainerd Hall | |
|---|---|
| Born |
November 11, 1859 Jamaica |
| Died |
September 4, 1926 (age 66) Rochester, New York, USA |
| Nationality | United States |
|
Engineering career | |
| Engineering discipline | chemistry |
| Institution memberships | Oberlin College |
| Significant projects | electrolytic production of aluminum |
Julia Brainerd Hall (November 11, 1859–September 4, 1926)[1][2] was an American chemist and engineer who assisted her younger brother, Charles Martin Hall, in his invention and implementation of the Hall Process for extracting aluminum from its ore.[3] Julia has been under-acknowledged for her involvement with the Hall Process and the founding of the Pittsburgh Reduction Company (later to become ALCOA).[4]
Julia was the third of four daughters of Herman Bassett Hall (1823-1911) and his wife Sophronia Brooks Hall (1827-1885). She also had two brothers, Lewis and Charles.[1] Julia Hall studied chemistry at Oberlin College, studying with Frank Fanning Jewett. She matriculated in 1881 and graduated in 1885. As a woman, she was given a diploma rather than a degree.[4]
Her brother Charles also attended Oberlin, matriculating in 1885 and graduating in 1889. When their mother died in 1885, Julia took over the running of the household and the raising of their two younger sisters.[4] Charles did most of his research in the woodshed of the family home at 64 East College Street in Oberlin OH.[1] Julia kept his experimental notes and assisted him with research and writing. The result was a series of patents issued to Charles in 1889 for the electrolytic production of aluminum.[4]
Her careful record-keeping became essential when a French chemist, Paul Héroult, filed a patent application for the same process in the same year. Héroult had filed his patent application a few months earlier than Hall, but Julia was able to prove in court that she and Charles had actually discovered the process first.[4]
Development of the Hall process and its scaling up for industrial use continued over some years, but eventually the work of Charles and Julia Hall brought the cost of aluminum down from $12.00 per pound to $.30 per pound.[5]
Julia Brainerd Hall died on Saturday, September 4, 1926, at the home that she shared with her sister, Louie Alice Hall, at 1422 Highland Avenue, Rochester, New York. She was buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester, New York.[2]
References
- 1 2 3 "Julia Brainerd Hall". Find A Grave. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
- 1 2 "Julia Brainerd Hall". Oberlin Alumni Magazine 24. December 1926. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
- ↑ Trescott, Martha M. (January 1977). "Julia B. Hall and aluminum". Journal of Chemical Education 54 (1): 24. doi:10.1021/ed054p24.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Kass-Simon, Gabrielle; Farnes, Patricia; Nash, Deborah (eds.) (1990). Women of Science: Righting the Record. Indiana University Press. pp. 173––176. ISBN 0-253-20813-0.
- ↑ Bowden, Mary Ellen (1997). Chemical Achievers: The Human Face of the Chemical Sciences. Philadelphia, PA: Chemical Heritage Foundation. pp. 35–37. ISBN 978-0941901123. Retrieved 28 January 2015.