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Sir William Robert Grove, FRS FRSE (11 July 1811 – 1 August 1896) was a Welsh judge and physical scientist. [1] He anticipated the general theory of the conservation of energy, and was a pioneer of fuel cell technology. [1] He invented the Grove voltaic cell.
Sir William Robert Grove (born July 11, 1811, Swansea, Glamorgan, Wales—died August 1, 1896, London) was a British physicist and a justice of Britain’s High Court (from 1880), who built the first fuel cell in 1842 and first offered proof of the thermal dissociation of atoms within a molecule.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Nov 22, 2022 · Learn about the life and achievements of William Robert Grove, a Welsh polymath who invented the first incandescent electric light, pioneered early photographic processes, and created the gas voltaic battery or fuel cell. Discover how he influenced the scientific community and the conservation of energy theory.
Grove was a barrister who researched electrochemistry and anticipated the conservation of energy. He was a member of the Royal Institution and a pioneer of fuel cell technology.
Historical drawing of William Grove's fuel cell apparatus.
William Robert Grove was born July 11th, 1811, in Wales, and is most known for the development of an improved wet-cell battery in 1838, named the Grove cell, which used a platinum electrode immersed in nitric acid and a zinc electrode in zinc sulfate to generate about 12 amps at 1.8 volts.
Learn how Grove, a vice president of the Royal Institution, invented the first fuel cell in 1842. He used hydrogen and oxygen to produce electrical energy and water, without using any metal catalyst.
