Born in Sheffield, England, Harry Brearley (1871-1948) was the son of a steel melter and was most well known for his invention of "rustless steel," or stainless steel. Brearley grew up around metallurgy, and left school at the age of twelve to work at one of the city's steelworks. In 1908, two of Sheffield's biggest steel companies formed a joint research laboratory and placed Brearly in charge.
Brearley's rustless steel was created in response to rifle manufacturers complaining of the rapid erosion of the inside of their rifle barrels due to high temperatures and hostile gases. Although other people had correlated the addition of chromium to carbon steel with higher resistance to corrosive chemicals, Brearly was the first to make the first true stainless steel in 1913, which was composed of .24% carbon and 12.8% chromium. He noticed the alloys unusual resistance when performing a standard etching experiment to closely examine the grain structure. The etching required the surface of the metal to be cleaned with an acid, usually nitric acid. When the new alloy's surface would not give way to the acid, Brearly realized the useful implications.
Brearley paved the way for later metalurgists to revise his alloy, and today there are over 150 grades of stainless steel, used in everything from cutlery to marine applications.
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