ERNEST SOLVAY (1838-1922) Ernest Solvay, ~ h made o his name s nonjmaus with soda, was born on April 16, 1838, a t Rebecq, Jelgiuk. His father, a quarr.~master, pieced out his modest mcorne by refining salt on a small scale and Solvay, remembering the large tubs that stood in the yard, often remarked that he grew u p in an atmosphere of sodium chloride. At school he was interested in science, particularly chemistry, and with his younger brother Alfred spent most of his free time in their home-made laboratory. Delicate health forced Ernest t o leave school a t a n early age; his formal education was over, thenceforth he taught himself. By reading and study he widened the narmw horizon of village life, and developed the self-reliance, resourcefulness, and independence of judgment that characterized his adult life. Sent to Antwerp t o learn bookkeeping, the sixteen-year-old boy proved t o be a mediocre clerk, "only the universe occupied his thoughts." At eighteen he was given a place in the gas works directed by his uncle Semet. His routine duties allowed him time for the chemical experimenting that was always uppermost in his mind. The by-pmducts of the gas works, both a nuisance and a waste, were a serious problem; the ammonia especiall aroused his interest. He mined solutions of sodium chloridie and ammonia and passed in carbon dioxide: a white precipitate resulted. This simple observation was the birth of the Solvay process. The reaction was simple, hut i t took five years of heart-breaking toil by the Solvay brothers t o bring its application t o the mmmercial stage. The parents oured their savings into the venture, failure followed failure, gut with indomitable faith in himself Ernest persisted. "If a t times I am discouraged i t is because I feel t h a t despite m will power I a m losing confidence in my strength." In 1866 t%e last of the family's funds went into new apparatus; the outlook brightened. "After being so often within an inch, a hair's breadth of failure, shall I finally succeed in regaining from others and from myself that moral
strength which the whole world seems t o deny me? After all that has happened this would indeed be a splendid triumph. Let us not speak of it, we are now too used t o set-backs!' ,By December, 1867, the Solvay process was a commercial reahty. The Le Blsnc process was rapidly displaced, the consumption of soda rose fifteen fold, the price dropped sevent five per cent. Solvuy became one of the richest industrialists af%s da Attempts were made to belittle Solvay's accom Sshment. The basic reaction was not his discovery, but others f a d found that their patents.were useless because they could not surmount the problems entailed, especial1 pro er equipment and excessive loss of ammonia. Solvay, less t%an tfirty, with only a smattering of scientific education, with little money and no worth-while connections, succeeded by hard work, ingenuity, and faith in himself. "The point of departure of this result was not a scientific precept, I was neither engineer nor chemist, and I knew on1 the laws of Berthollet." With justifiable pride he declared, have established the manufacture of soda using ammonia when there had been only abandoned attempts." The management of his business he left t o others; he devoted himself to philanthro ic and scientific inquiries. He rose early, worked late, fashionaxle saciet saw little of him. He set himself the tremendous tasks of s o k n g the problem of the physical universe and the social world. "The living being is a physicochemical reaction. Society, like the individual, acts automatically. The laws which i t obeys are summarized in the human and hysiological law of the search for the best existence, which is itself only a veiled expression of the physico-chemical law of maximum work." From this mechanistic viewpoint, he believed that sociological and political problems can only be solved by application of the rational methods of science.
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(Confinucdfmmpage 401) Five years were required to perfect the application of a single firm or invalidate my personal ideas.". . "I derive the greatest from this work; when I think I am advancing, when by chemical reaction, how long would he necessary to solve the multorturing my mind I surmount a difficulty, to feel here is a real titudinous, complex problems of the physical and social worlds? truth; this may seem absurd to ou, but I have the conviction of His failure la mostly in the magnitude of his task, hut his confidence that t%e human mind can penetrate the secrets of nature having done my duty." He d y e d Science his fifth child. Fifty years of labor brought no general acceptance of his and human behavior and find truth, his desire to use this truth views. "Does that mean that I am wronk? I do not altogether for the benefit of mankind, this was his success. Ernest Solvay think so." As early as 1858 he had heheved energy and mass died at Brussels on May 26, 1922. interconvertible, many had declared his soda process impracticable. Even thou h he stood alone, he felt "to change would be (Confdufcdby Ralph E. Oesper and Clara Dcmy, Uniuemify of to destroy himself" Cincinnati)
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