Hydrogen

History of Hydrogen

Hydrogen was discovered in 1766 by English chemist and physicist Henry Cavendish. It was named in 1788 by French chemist Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier from the Greek words for “water-former.” In 1783, Jacques Alexander Cesar Charles, a French physicist, launched the first hydrogen balloon flight. In the 1950s, NASA began experimenting with hydrogen fuel cells. Today, there is ongoing research and development into making hydrogen more widely used.

1766 – Hydrogen was first identified as a distinct element by British scientist Henry Cavendish after he evolved hydrogen gas by reacting zinc metal with hydrochloric acid. In a demonstration to the Royal Society of London, Cavendish applied a spark to hydrogen gas, yielding water. This discovery led to his later finding that water (H2O) is made of hydrogen and oxygen.

1783 – Jacques Alexander Cesar Charles, a French physicist, launched the first hydrogen balloon flight. Known as “Charliere,” the unmanned balloon flew to an altitude of 3 kilometers. Only three months later, Charles himself flew in his first manned hydrogen balloon.

1788 – Building on the discoveries of Cavendish, French chemist Antoine Lavoisier gave hydrogen its name, which was derived from the Greek words “hydro” and “genes,” meaning “water” and “born of.”

1800s – English scientists William Nicholson and Sir Anthony Carlisle discovered that applying electric current to water produced hydrogen and oxygen gases. This process was later termed “electrolysis.”

1838 – The fuel cell effect, combining hydrogen and oxygen gases to produce water and an electric current, was discovered by Swiss chemist Christian Friedrich Schoenbein.

1920s – German engineer Rudolf Erren converted the internal combustion engines of trucks, buses and submarines to use hydrogen or hydrogen mixtures. British scientist and Marxist writer J.B.S. Haldane introduced the concept of renewable hydrogen in his paper “Science and the Future” by proposing that “there will be great power stations where during windy weather the surplus power will be used for the electrolytic decomposition of water into oxygen and hydrogen.”

1937 – After 10 successful trans-Atlantic flights from Germany to the United States, the Hindenburg, a dirigible inflated with hydrogen gas, crashed upon landing in Lakewood, New Jersey. The mystery of the crash was solved in 1997. A study concluded that the explosion was not due to the hydrogen gas, but rather to a weather-related static electric discharge that ignited the airship’s silver-colored, canvas exterior covering, which had been treated with the key ingredients of solid rocket fuel.

1958 – The United States formed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). NASA’s space program currently uses the most liquid hydrogen worldwide, primarily for rocket propulsion and as a fuel for fuel cells.

1959 – Francis T. Bacon of Cambridge University in England built the first practical hydrogen-air fuel cell. The 5-kilowatt (kW) system powered a welding machine. He named his fuel cell design the “Bacon Cell.” Later that year, Harry Karl Ihrig, an engineer for the Allis―Chalmers Manufacturing Company, demonstrated the first fuel cell vehicle: a 20-horsepower tractor. Hydrogen fuel cells, based upon Francis T. Bacon’s design, have been used to generate on-board electricity, heat and water for astronauts aboard the famous Apollo spacecraft and all subsequent space shuttle missions.

1974 – International Energy Agency (IEA) was established in response to global oil market disruptions. IEA activities included the research and development of hydrogen energy technologies.

1997 – German car manufacturer Daimler-Benz and Ballard Power Systems announced a $300 million research collaboration on hydrogen fuel cells for transportation.

1998 – Iceland unveiled a plan to create the first hydrogen economy by 2030 with Daimler-Benz and Ballard Power Systems.

1999 – The Royal Dutch/Shell Company committed to a hydrogen future by forming a hydrogen division. Europe’s first hydrogen fueling stations were opened in the German cities of Hamburg and Munich.

A consortium of Icelandic institutions, headed by the financial group New Business Venture Fund, partnered with Royal Dutch/Shell Group, DaimlerChrysler (a merger of Daimer Benz and Chrysler) and Norsk Hydro to form the Icelandic Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Company Ltd. to further the hydrogen economy in Iceland.

Today – In the future, water will replace fossil fuels as the primary resource for hydrogen. Hydrogen will be distributed via national networks of hydrogen transport pipelines and fueling stations. Hydrogen energy and fuel cell power will be clean, abundant, reliable, affordable and an integral part of all sectors of the economy in all regions of the US.