Nicolas Leblanc. Chemical revolution and social injustice

The development of sodium carbonate as a major commodity is intimately attached to the chemical revolution that took place in the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Strong political and economical reasons led to the search of synthetic procedures to replace the natural sources of soda that were available by the seventeenth century. In 1789 Nicolas Leblanc developed a synthetic process that used common salt as raw material and thus made available to France and the world a discovery of incontestable use; political events prevented him from receiving the right compensation; the following generations were the ones to benefit from his discovery.