Acetylene of 180°. Acetylene was discovered in 1836 by Edmund Davy, who identified it as a "new carburet of hydrogen". It was rediscovered in 1860 by French chemist Marcellin Berthelot, who coined the name "acétylène". Berthelot's empirical formula for acetylene (CH), as well as the alternative name "quadricarbure d'hydrogène" ("hydrogen quadricarbide"), were incorrect because chemists at that time used the wrong atomic mass for carbon (6 instead of 12). Berthelot was able to prepare this gas by passing vapours of organic compounds (methanol, ethanol, etc.) through a red-hot tube and collecting the effluent. He also found that acetylene was formed by
Alan Turnbull (scientist) he was appointed Order of the British Empire for "services to science and industry". Alan Turnbull (scientist) Alan Turnbull (born 4 September 1949) is a British corrosion scientist and engineer specialising in the measurement and modelling of environment-assisted cracking and the localised corrosion of metals. He is a Senior NPL Fellow in Electrochemistry at the National Physical Laboratory. Turnbull received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Strathclyde in 1970. He completed his doctorate in 1974 at the University of Bristol. Turnbull joined the Materials Division of the National Physical Laboratory in 1973, becoming a Fellow in 1989