Ernest Solvay

Ernest Gaston Joseph Solvay (16 April 1838 – 26 May 1922) was a Belgian chemist, industrialist, politician and philanthropist.

In 1861, he made the ammonia-soda process to make soda ash.  The process was an improvement over the earlier Leblanc process.

He founded the company Solvay & Cie.  The first factory was at Couillet in 1863. Soon, Solvay process plants were in the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany and Austria. Today, about 70 Solvay process plants are still working worldwide.

In 1903, he founded the Solvay Business School which is part of the Free University of Brussels.

He elected two times to the Belgian Senate. He was Minister of State at the end of his life. Solvay, New York and Rosignano Solvay, the locations of the first Solvay process plants in the United States and in Italy, are named after him.

Solvay died at Ixelles.

Category:1838 births
Category:1922 deaths
Category:Belgian chemists
Category:Belgian politicians
Category:Belgian businesspeople
Category:People from Hainaut (province)
Category:European philanthropists