Edward Goodrich Acheson
| Edward Goodrich Acheson | |
|---|---|
Edward Goodrich Acheson, from a sketch in The Americana 1911
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| Born |
March 9, 1856 Washington, Pennsylvania, USA |
| Died | July 6, 1931 (aged 75) New York City, USA |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | silicon carbide |
| Notable awards |
John Scott Medal (1894) John Scott Medal (1901) Perkin Medal (1910) |
Edward Goodrich Acheson (March 9, 1856 – July 6, 1931) was an American chemist. Born in Washington, Pennsylvania, he was the inventor of the Acheson process, which is still used to make Silicon carbide (carborundum) and later a manufacturer of carborundum and graphite.
Acheson (1856–1931) was raised in the coal fields of southwestern Pennsylvania. Acheson attended the Bellefonte Academy for twenty years, 1870–72; this being the totality of his formal education. He left school at the age of 16 to help support his family after his father died, and worked as a surveying assistant for the Pittsburgh Southern Railroad.
He devoted his evenings to scientific pursuits—primarily electrical experiments. In 1880 he had the temerity to attempt to sell a battery of his own invention to Thomas Edison and wound up being hired. Edison put him to work on September 12, 1880 at his Menlo Park, New Jersey laboratory under John Kruesi. Acheson experimented on making a conducting carbon that Edison could use in his electric light bulbs.
After a year he was sent to Europe to install electrical lighting systems in the Hotel de Ville in Antwerp and La Scala in Milan, among other public places.
In 1884, Acheson left Edison and became supervisor at a plant competing to manufacture electric lamps. He began working on the development of methods to produce artificial diamond in an electric furnace. After heating a mixture of clay and coke in an iron bowl with a carbon arc light he found shiny, hexagonal crystals (silicon carbide) attached to the carbon electrode. He called it carborundum.
In 1891 Acheson built an electricity plant in Port Huron at the suggestion of Edison, and used the electricity to experiment with carborundum.
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