Henri Moissan

Nobel 1906 “in recognition of the great services rendered by him in his investigation and isolation of the element fluorine, and for the adoption in the service of science of the electric furnace called after him.” In 1886 he electrolysed potassium bifluoride dissolved in anhydrous hydrogen fluoride to finally isolate $\ce{F2}$, a feat that had defeated chemists for decades. His electric arc furnace reached temperatures above 3500 °C, enabling the preparation of metal carbides, silicides and borides and opening high-temperature chemistry.