Paris, France/paris8-060

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Young Paul was enrolled in a liberal Paris school where he became enthralled in Jules Verne's stories and other scientific tales. One day he day he read Deville's description of aluminum and was immediately obsessed with the challenge posed by Deville: the problem of producing "silver from clay" economically. At the age of 19 Héroult entered the École des mines , but preoccupied with his dreams, he failed his first year. Back at his father's tannery he attacked the problem of aluminum with vigor and discovered a process essentially identical with Charls Hall of Ohio {LINK: Oberlin060}. Today this neighborhood in Gentilly — known as "Avenue des les Tanneurs" ("Avenue of the tanners") — has been pulled down and high-rise apartments have replaced the original buildings, with no trace or memory of the original site.