What is Ernest Solvay?
{{Infobox scientist |name = Ernest Solvay Mauro |image = Ernest Solvay.jpg |image_size = 150px |caption = Ernest Solvay (c1900) |birth_date = 16 April 1838 |birth_place = [[Rebecq]] |death_date = 26 May 1922 |death_place = [[Ixelles]] |residence = |citizenship = |nationality = [[Belgium|Belgian]] |ethnicity = |field = [[chemistry]] |work_institutions = |alma_mater = |doctoral_advisor = |doctoral_students = |known_for = [[ammonia-soda process]] |author_abbrev_bot = |author_abbrev_zoo = |influences = |influenced = |prizes = |religion = |footnotes = |signature = }} [[File:1911 Solvay conference.jpg|300px|thumb|The portrait of participants to the first [[Solvay Conference]] in 1911. Ernest Solvay is the third seated from the left. Solvay wasn't present at the time the photo was taken, so his photo was cut and pasted onto this one for the official release]] '''Ernest Gaston Joseph Solvay''' (16 April 1838 &ndash; 26 May 1922) was a [[Belgium|Belgian]] [[chemist]], [[industrialist]], [[politician]] and [[philanthropist]]. In 1861, he made the [[ammonia-soda process]] to make [[sodium carbonate|soda ash]]. The process was an improvement over the earlier [[Leblanc process]]. He founded the company [[Solvay (company)|Solvay & Cie]]. The first factory was at [[Charleroi|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]]. {{bio-stub