RITZ-CARLTON LUMINARA: Day 12--History of Hydrogen

I regularly review the state of the Hydrogen Society.  Today, I will focus on the history.

• I've long been intrigued by hydrogen.
• 70-75% of the mass in the Universe is hydrogen.
• 90% of atoms are hydrogen.
• When combusted in air, the result is water.
• Isotopes tritium and deuterium are the keys to fusion.

• 
  Why is hydrogen so abundant?
• The Big Bang produced mostly hydrogen and helium.
• Colorless and odorless.
• Hydrogen's simplicity makes it the primary fuel for the formation of stars.
• Hydrogen consists of one proton and one electron, making it the lightest and simplest atom.
• Makes up 63% of all atoms in the human body.

• 
  Hydrogen's story.
• In 1526, Paraclesus first observed hydrogen gas.
• Theodore de Mayerne found the gas combustible in 1650.
• In 1671, Robert Boyle first artificially produced hydrogen.
• Henry Cavendish in 1766 formally identified it as a distinct element.

• 
  Antoine Lavoisier coined the name hydrogen from the Greek words hydro (water) and genes
  (creator).
• In 1783, Jacques Charles invented the first hydrogen balloon.
• William Murdoch used a hydrogen-rich gas in1792 to warm his home.
• 
  Francois Isaac de Rivaz developed an internal combustion engine to generate power in 1807.
• William Grove invented the fuel cell in 1839.
• In 1875, Jules Verne published The Mysterious Island, envisioning hydrogen as an inexhaustible energy source.
• Ferdinand von Zeppelin made a maiden flight of his hydrogen dirigible in 1900.
• 
  The Hindenburg disaster occured in 1937 in New Jersey.  There were 35 fatalities.  Herbert Morrison's radio eyewitness report can still be remembered.  This is the one-most critical event that has prevented the expansion of hydrogen use.  The more important one is economics.
• Hydrogen today is primarily used in industrial processes and as a rocket fuel.  Fuel cell applications are increasing.
• My involvement began in 1974.

Hydrogen has long been a passion of mine now for half a century.  Read my Story of Hydrogen.  To quote:

• My interest in hydrogen spurred me (in 1974) to stop off first in Miami to attend the initial gather of Hydrogen Romantics, which led to the field journal and semi-annual World Hydrogen Energy Conference. 

• 
  In 1980, I found myself working in the U.S. Senate and recalled what I learned in Miami.  I was so inspired that I wrote the initial hydrogen legislation for the Senate, which led to the Matsunaga Hydrogen Act in 1989.
• In 1990 I chaired the World Hydrogen Energy Conference in Hawaii.
• 
  Soon thereafter I became chairman of the Secretary of Energy's Hydrogen Technical Advisory Panel, which prepared The Green Hydrogen Energy Report, which served as the guide for a decade of Congressional hydrogen funding.  This led to selection of the Hawaii Natural Energy at the University of Hawaii to become a National Hydrogen Center for Education and Research.

• The widespread use of hydrogen leading to the Hydrogen Society will happen if global climate change becomes a serious crisis and cheaper hydrogen production rates can become more economical.

Lunch today in the Beach House.  Bloody Mary and Decoy Cabernet Sauvignon.

A Greek soup.

Lamb chops.

Egyptian rice pudding

Dinner was at Haesu Bit.  First sashimi with sake and chardonnay.  Note that large piece of cucumber, which I munched on.

Then a buttered scallops entré with a caviar topped chawan mushi.

Dessert of a huge fortune cookie.

Only walked 1061 steps,

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