On a recent visit to the Science Museum in London I came across this interesting exhibit. It is some slivers of aluminium that were made in 1855 by reducing the aluminium ions in cryolite with sodium metal.The inscription reads:“Aluminium from cryolite by sodium in my laboratory by A. Dick March 27. 1855. For the first time this made. Exhibited same night at Royal Institution by Mr. Faraday.