Hydrochloric acid
Ácido clorhídrico
- Date
- 1625 · confidence low
- Place
- Vienna, Austria
- Credited to
- Johann Rudolf Glauber
- Field
- Matter & energy
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
Glauber described the production of concentrated hydrochloric acid by heating common salt with sulfuric acid, the method the chemical industry would later adopt, after centuries of alchemical salt-distillation experiments that had already released the gas without isolating it in pure form.
Attribution is uncertain and spans centuries: Abu Bakr al-Razi (9th-10th century) already distilled salt mixtures that released the gas, and by 1300 pseudo-Geber described aqua regia; Glauber (1625) is credited with fixing the production method industry would later adopt. Wikidata also cites Mary the Jewess and Basil Valentine, semi-legendary figures without solid evidence for this specific contribution.
What it led to
- Industrial production of mineral acids
- The Leblanc process for soda ash, with hydrochloric acid as a by-product
- Analytical and industrial chemistry of chlorine