Frederick Gardner Cottrell (1877-1948)

Frederick Gardner Cottrell was an American chemist, in 1906 invented the electrostatic precipitator, and electrical device for removing suspended impurities such as dust, fumes or mist from air and other gases. It has proved to be of immense use in removing pollution-causing substances from the exhausts of factories and power plants. It works by charging the polluting molecules and then separating them by depositing them on oppositely charged electrodes as opposite charges attract each other.

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