* 1821: Pierre Berthier, a French geologist, first described the mineral in a report to the French Academy of Sciences. He named it "bauxite" after the village of Les Baux-de-Provence in southern France, where he found the sample.
* Late 1800s: Bauxite's industrial significance emerged when Carl Josef Bayer developed a process to extract alumina (aluminum oxide) from bauxite. This process, known as the Bayer process, laid the foundation for the aluminum industry.
Therefore, while Berthier's 1821 report marked the formal discovery of bauxite, its practical application in the aluminum industry only became apparent in the late 19th century.
