The History of Hydrogen.

To Understand Hydrogen better, how it is produced and how it's power can be harnessed it's necessary to look at the History of Hydrogen and how it was discovered and applied in the past. Only then can we paint a picture of what hydrogen as a fuel will hold in the Future.

1671 – Robert Boyle rediscovers Hydrogen after, T. von Hohenheim(1493 - 1541) discovered it and produced it by combining metals and acids.

1766 – British scientist Henry Cavendish recognizes hydrogen as a distinct element and calls it inflammable air. Later he found that when hydrogen burnt water is released. This led to his later discovery that water consist of Oxygen and Hydrogen (H₂O).

1783 to 1788 – Antoine Lavoisier gave the element the name Hydrogen (from the Greek word Hydro and Genes meaning Born of water or created from water/water creator). Also in this period Jacques Alexander Cesar Charles a French physicist launched the first Hydrogen filled balloon named "Charliere. The first attempt was unmanned and later he flew in it himself.

1800 – English Scientist William Nicholson and Sir Anthony Carlisle discovered that when an electric current is run through water that Hydrogen and Oxygen is produced. The process is later called electrolysis.

1807 – Franscois Isaac de Rivaz, builds the first internal combustion engine powered by a mixture of Hydrogen and Oxygen.

1838 – Swiss chemist, Christian Friedrich Schoenbein, discovered the hydrogen fuel cell effect, which is the combination of hydrogen and oxygen gasses to produce an electric current and water.

1845 – Sir William Grove earns the title father of the Fuel Cell due to the "gas battery" he built based on the discovery by Schoenbein.

1852 – Henry Giffard, invents the first hydrogen lifted airship, the first reliable method of air transport.

1898 – James Dewar liquefies Hydrogen for the first time using the vacuum flask, one of his other inventions, and regenerative cooling. The next year he made solid hydrogen.

1900 – The maiden flight of the first Zeppelin. They got their name from the German count Ferdinand von Zeppelin who was a big promoter of hydrogen lifted airships.

1920's – Rudolf Erren a German engineer, converted internal combustion engines of cars, truck, and even buses to use Hydrogen and hydrogen mixtures as a fuel.

6 May 1937 – The Hindenburg, a hydrogen lifted airship, goes up in flames. Hydrogen filled airships and hydrogen gets labelled as dangerous after the accident and that is after countless incident free transatlantic flights and ferrying thousands of passengers all over the world. It was later found that the accident was not caused by the hydrogen gas but by the fabric that covered the airship's exterior. The silver fabric and the weather caused a static discharge which ignited the gas. It was also found that most of the passengers did not die from the Hydrogen flames but by jumping from the airship. Some passengers that survived the ordeal claim that they rode the flaming airship to the ground and then simply got out and ran for safety.

1959 – Francis Bacon builds the Hydrogen-air fuel cell which he used to power a welder. He named the fuel cell a Bacon Cell. Harry Karl Ihrig demonstrated his fuel cell powered tractor in 1959 as well.

This is but a brief History of Hydrogen, how it was discovered and how it was used in the past. Since the mid 20th Century and the widespread use of gasoline as a fuel in cars, it becomes a bit more difficult to track the developments of hydrogen and fuel cell technology.

It becomes difficult to distinguish between fact and myth. Some inventors claiming that they can make hydrogen on board a vehicle and power it with the hydrogen. They even say that they can make hydrogen by electrolysis above the maximum level of efficiency for electrolysis found by Michael Faraday in 1832. Other inventors claim that they have been threatened by big Oil Companies...

Some claims just sound ridiculous. But we always try to remain objective and judge each invention and claim accordingly.