Hydrogen History

Hydrogen was first produced by Theophratus Bombastus von Hohenheim (1493–1541)—also known as Paracelsus—by mixing metals with acids. He was unaware that the explosive gas produced by this chemical reaction was hydrogen. In 1671, Robert Boyle described the reaction between two iron fillings and dilute acids, which results in the production of gaseous hydrogen.[3] In 1766, Henry Cavendish was the first to recognize hydrogen as a discrete substance, by identifying the gas from this reaction as "inflammable" and finding that the gas produces water when burned in air. Cavendish stumbled on hydrogen when experimenting with acids and mercury. Although he wrongly assumed that hydrogen was a compound of mercury—and not of the acid—he was still able to accurately describe several key properties of hydrogen.

Antoine Lavoisier gave the element its name and proved that water is composed of hydrogen and oxygen. One of the first uses of the element was for balloons. The hydrogen was obtained by mixing sulfuric acid and iron. In 1931, Harold C. Urey discovered deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen, by repeated distilling the same sample of water. For this discovery, Urey received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1934. In the same year, the third isotope, tritium, was discovered. Because of its relatively simple structure, hydrogen has often been used in models of how an atom works.