Dobereiner platinum lighter

Johann W. Dobereiner (1780-1849) was the first to discover the catalytic action of the noble metal platinum on a hydrogen/oxygen mixture and to exploit it commercially (Dobereiner s lighter), without being aware of the term catalysis . Instead, he referred to the effect of contact or contact processes . Ten years later Jacob J. Berzelius was the first to use the term catalyst and stated [Schwenk 2000] ... 

Hydrogen and oxygen combine quantitatively at room temperature in the presence of finely divided palladium or platinum to produce water. In 1823 Dobereiner used this catalytic reaction to construct a cigarette lighter. 

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