Used with
permission of Maiken Naylor, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA,
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/sel/exhibits/stamps
Ernest Solvay (1838-1922) was a Belgian industrial chemist who originated the Solvay process for the manufacture of sodium carbonate (soda ash) from salt, ammonia, carbon dioxide and limestone by an ingenious sequence of reactions involving recovery and reuse of practically all the ammonia and part of the carbon dioxide. He became very wealthy from his many patents and founded international institutes for research in chemistry, physics, and sociology.