Henry Bessemer was an inventor and engineer who developed the first process for manufacturing steel inexpensively.  In the 1850s, he discovered that blowing oxygen through iron removed impurities and increased the temperature.  The Bessemer process was patented in 1856 and it lowered the cost of producing steel, which soon replaced iron as the metal of choice.  Until 1900, the Bessemer process was used world-wide and allowed steel to be made cheaply and on a large scale.

Photograph - 1890s

Iron and Steel Hall of Fame Induction - 2018