Aluminum in America: A History

Aluminum in America: A History
ISBN-10
1476625646
ISBN-13
9781476625645
Category
History
Pages
252
Language
English
Published
2017-02-06
Publisher
McFarland
Author
Quentin R. Skrabec

Description

The history of aluminum: metallurgy, engineering, global business and politics—and the advance of civilization itself. The earth’s most abundant metal, aluminum remained largely inaccessible until after the Industrial Revolution. A precious commodity in 1850s, it later became a strategic resource: while steel won World War I, aluminum won World War II. A generation later, it would make space travel possible and the 1972 Pioneer spacecraft would carry a message from mankind to extraterrestrial life, engraved on an aluminum plate. Today aluminum, along with oil, is the natural resource driving geopolitics, and China has taken the lead in manufacture.

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