Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Luigi Valentino Brugnatelli" in English language version.
Luigi V. Brugnatelli, a professor of chemistry in Pavia, was probably the first person to electrodeposit gold from solution. But an insult from Napoleon Bonaparte which led Brugnatelli to confine publication of his work solely to his own Journal in Pavia, Italy, buried the information for some thirty eight years. [...] Brugnatelli was a colleague and close friend of Allisandro Volta at the time the latter made his momentous discovery of the Voltaic Pile. The importance of a new and awesome power made a particular impression on French scientists and Napoleon Bonaparte, presumably in his position as a member of the National Academy, invited Volta to Paris to demonstrate his discovery. Brugnatelli accompanied him. Before or during the course of three lectures, Volta, after being presented to Napoleon, introduced Brugnatelli to Napoleon as "my colleague, the great Italian chemist". Napoleon turned away with the comment that there were no great chemists in Italy. Highly insulted, Brugnatelli returned to Pavia and never again communicated with the French Academy of Sciences. As a result, his early work with Volta using voltaic electricity on various metallic solutions was never published in Paris and therefore escaped major notice. His electro-reduction of metals, probably first performed in 1800, finally resulted in his "reviving" of gold. A letter he sent to the editor of the Belgian Journal of Physics and Chemistry in 1805, was partially reprinted in Britain. "I have lately gilt in a complete manner two large silver medals, by bringing them into communication by means of a steel wire, with the negative pole of a voltaic pile, and keeping them one after the other immersed in ammoniuret of gold newly made and well saturated."
Brugnatelli's early work using voltaic electricity enabled him to experiment with various plating solutions. By 1805, he had refined his process enough to plate a fine layer of gold over large silver metal objects. He wrote in a letter to the Belgian Journal of Physics and Chemistry (later reprinted in Britain), which reads: "I have lately gilt in a complete manner two large silver medals, by bringing them into communication by means of a steel wire, with a negative pole of a voltaic pile, and keeping them one after the other immersed in ammoniuret of gold newly made and well saturated." Unfortunately for Brugnatelli, a disagreement or falling out with the French Academy of Sciences, the leading scientific body of Europe at the time, prevented Brugnatelli's work from being published in the scientific journals of his day. His work remained largely unknown outside of his native Italy except for a small group of associates.
Unfortunately, a falling out with the French Academy of Sciences, the leading scientific body of Europe, prevented any of Brugnatelli's important work from being published in the scientific journals of his day. His work remained largely unknown outside of Italy, except for a small group of close associates.
Brugnatelli's early work using voltaic electricity enabled him to experiment with various plating solutions. By 1805, he had refined his process enough to plate a fine layer of gold over large silver metal objects. He wrote in a letter to the Belgian Journal of Physics and Chemistry (later reprinted in Britain), which reads: "I have lately gilt in a complete manner two large silver medals, by bringing them into communication by means of a steel wire, with a negative pole of a voltaic pile, and keeping them one after the other immersed in ammoniuret of gold newly made and well saturated." Unfortunately for Brugnatelli, a disagreement or falling out with the French Academy of Sciences, the leading scientific body of Europe at the time, prevented Brugnatelli's work from being published in the scientific journals of his day. His work remained largely unknown outside of his native Italy except for a small group of associates.
Luigi V. Brugnatelli, a professor of chemistry in Pavia, was probably the first person to electrodeposit gold from solution. But an insult from Napoleon Bonaparte which led Brugnatelli to confine publication of his work solely to his own Journal in Pavia, Italy, buried the information for some thirty eight years. [...] Brugnatelli was a colleague and close friend of Allisandro Volta at the time the latter made his momentous discovery of the Voltaic Pile. The importance of a new and awesome power made a particular impression on French scientists and Napoleon Bonaparte, presumably in his position as a member of the National Academy, invited Volta to Paris to demonstrate his discovery. Brugnatelli accompanied him. Before or during the course of three lectures, Volta, after being presented to Napoleon, introduced Brugnatelli to Napoleon as "my colleague, the great Italian chemist". Napoleon turned away with the comment that there were no great chemists in Italy. Highly insulted, Brugnatelli returned to Pavia and never again communicated with the French Academy of Sciences. As a result, his early work with Volta using voltaic electricity on various metallic solutions was never published in Paris and therefore escaped major notice. His electro-reduction of metals, probably first performed in 1800, finally resulted in his "reviving" of gold. A letter he sent to the editor of the Belgian Journal of Physics and Chemistry in 1805, was partially reprinted in Britain. "I have lately gilt in a complete manner two large silver medals, by bringing them into communication by means of a steel wire, with the negative pole of a voltaic pile, and keeping them one after the other immersed in ammoniuret of gold newly made and well saturated."
Unfortunately, a falling out with the French Academy of Sciences, the leading scientific body of Europe, prevented any of Brugnatelli's important work from being published in the scientific journals of his day. His work remained largely unknown outside of Italy, except for a small group of close associates.
Modern electrochemistry was invented by Italian chemist Luigi V. Brugnatelli in 1805. Brugnatelli used his colleague Alessandro Volta's invention of five years earlier, the voltaic pile, to facilitate the first electrodeposition. Brugnatelli's inventions were suppressed by the French Academy of Sciences and did not become used in general industry for the following thirty years.
In 1803, the first account of gold electroplating, Brugnatelli recounted the reduction of gold ions from a saturated gold solution to metal on the surface of two large silver medals by means of connection to the negative terminal of a voltaic pile. Despite the development, Brugnatelli's work was largely unknown outside his native Italy. Due to the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) and an apparent falling out between Brugnatelli and the French Academy of Sciences, the leading scientific body of Europe at the time, little work was conducted on electroplating until the mid-1830s.
Brugnatelli's early work using voltaic electricity enabled him to experiment with various plating solutions. By 1805, he had refined his process enough to plate a fine layer of gold over large silver metal objects. He wrote in a letter to the Belgian Journal of Physics and Chemistry (later reprinted in Britain), which reads: "I have lately gilt in a complete manner two large silver medals, by bringing them into communication by means of a steel wire, with a negative pole of a voltaic pile, and keeping them one after the other immersed in ammoniuret of gold newly made and well saturated." Unfortunately for Brugnatelli, a disagreement or falling out with the French Academy of Sciences, the leading scientific body of Europe at the time, prevented Brugnatelli's work from being published in the scientific journals of his day. His work remained largely unknown outside of his native Italy except for a small group of associates.
