Aluminum in America : A History

The history of aluminum takes in metallurgy, engineering, global business and politics and the advance of civilization itself. The earth's most abundant metal, aluminum remained largely inaccessible until after the Industrial Revolution. A precious commodity in 1850s, it later became a strategic resource: while steel won World War I, aluminum won World War II. A generation later, it would make space travel possible and the 1972 Pioneer spacecraft would carry a message from mankind to extraterrestrial life, engraved on an aluminum plate. Today aluminum-along with oil-is the natural resource driving geopolitics, and China has taken the lead in manufacture.