The metal was first produced in 1825 in an impure form by
Danish physicist and chemist
Hans Christian Ørsted. He reacted
anhydrous aluminium chloride with
potassium amalgam, yielding a lump of metal looking similar to tin.
[48] Friedrich Wöhler was aware of these experiments and cited them, but after redoing the experiments of Ørsted he concluded that this metal was pure potassium. He conducted a similar experiment in 1827 by mixing anhydrous aluminium chloride with potassium and yielded aluminium.
[48] Wöhler is generally credited with isolating aluminium (
Latin alumen, alum). Further,
Pierre Berthier discovered aluminium in bauxite ore.
Henri Etienne Sainte-Claire Deville improved Wöhler's method in 1846. As described in his 1859 book, aluminium trichloride could be reduced by sodium, which was more convenient and less expensive than potassium used by Wöhler.
[49] In the mid 1880s, aluminium metal was exceedingly difficult to produce, which made pure
aluminium more valuable than gold.[50]