On This Day in Oil & Gas: August 9th - Avogadro's Law

August 9th 1776, Turin, The Kingdom of Sardinia and Piedmont – A son is born into the household of the Count of Quaregna and Cerreto in what is now northern Italy. After several disagreements on suitable names for their child, the proud parents decided that concision was the best way forward and baptise him Lorenzo Romano Amedeo Carlo Avogadro di Quaregna e di Cerreto.

With a name like that, the man history would (thankfully) simply know as Amadeo Avogadro was destined for great things. After completing his studies in ecclesiastical law at the age of 21, the progression for Amadeo was naturally to go and teach high school maths and physics in a town famous for rice production. It was here in 1811 that Avogadro proposed that the volume of a gas at a given pressure and temperature is proportional to the number of atoms or molecules regardless of the nature of the gas. This would become know as "Avogadro’s Law" and would be a cornerstone of "the gas constant" without which the transportation, storage and production of natural gas today would be impossible.

We all probably owe Amadeo a couple of "grazie milles" for that one!

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