Electrochemical contributions: William Nicholson (1753–1815)

William Nicholson was an English chemist as well as a journalist, publisher, inventor, patent agent, and civil engineer (Figure 1). He wrote several important books on very different topics ranging from physics and chemistry to architecture and marine navigation. His important contribution to science was in establishing in 1797 the first periodic scientific journal: Journal of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, and the Arts, which was generally known as “Nicholson's Journal.” The success of this periodical inspired creation of several scientific journals in England. Nicholson's the most important experimental achievement was discovery of water electrolysis. In 1800, after he heard of the invention of the electric battery by the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta, Nicholson constructed a similar battery and performed a number of experiments with it. While doing various experiments with the Voltaic pile (the Zn-Cu battery invented by Volta), Nicholson with his friend Anthony Carlisle found that when the battery poles are immersed in water, they produce bubbles of gas identified as oxygen (O2) and hydrogen (H2) (Figure 2). This discovery was conceptually important because it demonstrated for the first time the interaction of electricity and chemical materials resulting in their chemical transformations (Figure 3). In other words, they produced a chemical process stimulated by electric energy. Eventually, the whole of electrochemistry started from this experiment.