Why Napoleon III Served Dinner On Aluminum Instead Of Gold
How precious becomes common: the story of aluminum
“It is almost impossible to imagine our world without aluminum. Almost everywhere you look you see items made of this silver-white metal — from the pots in the kitchen to the airplanes flying overhead. Although aluminium is the most abundant metal on earth, no one had ever seen it until 1825.”
— The Golden Book Of Chemistry Experiments, Robert Brent, pg 65
We often take the world around us for granted. The changes that have taken place over the past 200 years are startling to the point of amazement. An example of this incredible development would be one of the most common metals that surrounds you every day.
I’m sure you take no notice of the simple aluminum can that gets tossed idly into the recycling bin. You don’t consider that same metal is in the plane that flies your Amazon packages to you or the car that gets you to work. It’s cheap, soft, and lightweight. It’s so common it doesn’t even garner a second look from most.
However, in the early 1800’s this metal we take for granted was as valuable as gold. Napoleon III of France would show off his opulent personal dinnerware of aluminum. The United States would demonstrate their new raising power by putting a…
