This contains a sample bar of the first pure aluminium to exist on earth. After early attempts to isolate the reactive metal from its ores failed to produce pure samples, the French scientist Henri Sainte-Claire Deville developed a successful chemical method, which pointed the way to the industrial use of aluminium. Bars of aluminium made by Deville's process were exhibited in 1855 at the Paris Exposition Universelle, introducing the new metal to the public. The bar on display was used by the great experimenter Michael Faraday in his research.

Inv. 1911-341