Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/05/09
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]No, my fingers aren't broken. And, your web reference only confirms what I was saying. There isn't any confirmation there of your story about the spelling. I DID take 2 minutes to look up this issue in an authoritative source: The CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics - 80th edition. They explain the spelling: "In 1870, Davy proposed the name alumium for the metal, undiscovered at that time, and later agreed to change it to aluminum. Shortly thereafter, the name aluminium was adopted to conform with the ium ending of most elements, and this spelling is now in use elsewhere in the world. Aluminium was also the accepted spelling in the US until 1925, at which time the American Chemical Society officially decided to use the name aluminum thereafter in their publications." The irony is that the American spelling of aluminum is the original spelling by Sir Humphry Davy, a Brit..... None of this has anything to do with cameras and I apologize for the waste of space and long reply. But, I don't like to see unsubstantiated stories thrown out as fact. Regards, Bob At 04:14 PM 5/9/01 -0400, you wrote: >At 12:40 PM 5/9/2001 -0700, Robert Martin wrote: > > > >Did ALCOA even exist in 1867? > >I was off a bit on the year. But, for the exciting tale of Charles Martin >Hall and alumin(i)um, see > >http://www.alcoa.com/site/company/history/history.asp > >This took me all of 20 seconds on the Web to find. Are your fingers broken? > >Marc > >msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315 >Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!