Ernest Solvay | |
|---|---|
 Ernest Solvay (c. 1900) | |
| Born | 16 April 1838 (1838-04-16) |
| Died | 26 May 1922 (1922-05-27) (aged 84) Ixelles, Brussels, Belgium |
| Known for | ammonia-soda process |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | chemistry |
Ernest Gaston Joseph Solvay (French:[sɔlvɛ]; 16 April 1838 – 26 May 1922) was aBelgianchemist,industrialist andphilanthropist.
Born inRebecq, he was prevented by his acutepleurisy from going to university. He worked in his uncle's chemical factory from the age of 21.
In 1861, he, along with his brother Alfred Solvay, developed theammonia-soda process (also known as the Solvay process) for the manufacturing ofsoda ash (anhydroussodium carbonate) from brine (as a source ofsodium chloride) andlimestone (as a source ofcalcium carbonate). The process was an improvement over the earlierLeblanc process.[1] Through his friendship with François Hoebeke, founder and owner of the bottling company Top Bronnen of Nederbrakel, later became the first company to develop and produce carbonated non-alcoholic drinks in Belgium.[2]
He founded the companySolvay & Cie and established his first factory atCouillet (now merged intoCharleroi,Belgium) in 1863, and further perfected the process until 1872, when he patented it. Soon,Solvay process plants were established in theUnited Kingdom, theUnited States,Ukraine,[3]Russia,Germany andAustria. Today, about 70 Solvay process plants are still operational worldwide.[1]
The exploitation of hispatents brought Solvay considerable wealth, which he used forphilanthropic purposes, including the establishment in 1894 of the "Institut des Sciences Sociales" (ISS) or Institute for Sociology at theFree University of Brussels (now split into theUniversité libre de Bruxelles and theVrije Universiteit Brussel), as well asInternational Institutes for Physics and Chemistry. In 1903, he founded theSolvay Business School which is also part of theFree University of Brussels. In 1911, he began a series of important conferences in physics, known as theSolvay Conferences, whose participants includedMax Planck,Ernest Rutherford,Maria Skłodowska-Curie,Henri Poincaré, and (then only 32 years old)Albert Einstein. A later conference would includeNiels Bohr,Werner Heisenberg,Max Born, andErwin Schrödinger.
He was twice elected to theBelgian Senate for theLiberal Party and granted honorary title ofMinister of State at the end of his life.Solvay, New York andRosignano Solvay, the locations of the first Solvay process plants in the United States and in Italy, are also named after him.
Solvay died inIxelles at the age of 84 and is buried inIxelles Cemetery.
Grand Cordon in theOrder of Leopold, by Royal Decree.[5] 21 November 1918
Grand Cordon in theLegion of Honour France, 7 November 1919
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