In a general sense, anything that increases the rate of a [[process]] is a "catalyst", a term derived from [[Greek]] καταλύειν, meaning "to annul," or "to untie," or "to pick up." The phrase catalysed processes was coined by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B6ns_Jakob_Berzelius Jöns Jakob Berzelius] in 1836 to describe reactions that are accelerated by substances that remain unchanged after the reaction. Other early chemists involved in catalysis were [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Mitscherlich Alexander Mitscherlich] who referred to ''contact processes'' and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Wolfgang_D%C3%B6bereiner Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner] who spoke of ''contact action'' and whose lighter based on hydrogen and a platinum sponge became a huge commercial success in the 1820s. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humphry_Davy Humphry Davy] [[discovered]] the use of platinum in catalysis. In the 1880s, Wilhelm Ostwald at Leipzig University started a systematic investigation into reactions that were catalyzed by the presence of acids and bases, and found that chemical reactions occur at finite rates and that these rates can be used to determine the strengths of acids and bases. For this work, Ostwald was awarded the 1909 [[Nobel Prize]] in Chemistry. | In a general sense, anything that increases the rate of a [[process]] is a "catalyst", a term derived from [[Greek]] καταλύειν, meaning "to annul," or "to untie," or "to pick up." The phrase catalysed processes was coined by [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%B6ns_Jakob_Berzelius Jöns Jakob Berzelius] in 1836 to describe reactions that are accelerated by substances that remain unchanged after the reaction. Other early chemists involved in catalysis were [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Mitscherlich Alexander Mitscherlich] who referred to ''contact processes'' and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Wolfgang_D%C3%B6bereiner Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner] who spoke of ''contact action'' and whose lighter based on hydrogen and a platinum sponge became a huge commercial success in the 1820s. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humphry_Davy Humphry Davy] [[discovered]] the use of platinum in catalysis. In the 1880s, Wilhelm Ostwald at Leipzig University started a systematic investigation into reactions that were catalyzed by the presence of acids and bases, and found that chemical reactions occur at finite rates and that these rates can be used to determine the strengths of acids and bases. For this work, Ostwald was awarded the 1909 [[Nobel Prize]] in Chemistry. |