Who invented aerogels?
Aerogels were discovered in 1931 by two scientists at universities in California, Dr. Steven Kistler and Dr. Charles Learned. They were competing to see if they could replace the liquid inside of a jelly jar without causing any shrinkage. Dr. Kistler won the bet and published his findings in a 1931 edition of Nature. These first gels were silica gels. They were prepared by the acidic condensation of aqueous sodium silicate. Attempts to prepare aerogels by converting the water in these gels to a supercritical fluid failed, but the scientists succeeded by converting the alcohol to a supercritical fluid and allowing it to escape. These aerogels were very similar to the silica aerogels produced today. They attracted considerable academic interest. Kistler continued to study silica aerogels. He also produced aerogels from numerous other materials, including alumina, tungsten oxide, cellulose, cellulose nitrate, tin oxide, gelatin, egg albumen, rubber and agar. A few years later Kistler join
