Ernest Solvay

Self-taught in chemistry due to childhood illness, Solvay patented the industrial ammonia-soda process for producing sodium carbonate (soda ash) in 1861. Together with his brother Alfred, he founded Solvay & Cie at Couillet, expanding into a global chemical empire with manufacturing plants across Europe and America.

A passionate philanthropist and social philosopher, he introduced the eight-hour workday and social security pensions for his workers decades before they became law. In 1911, he convened the historic First Solvay Conference on Physics in Brussels, bringing together Einstein, Marie Curie, Planck, and Rutherford.