A brief history of the science of catalysis - I: from the early concepts to single-site heterogeneous catalysts

A brief history of heterogeneous catalysis is reported in this work, with a focus on key catalytic discoveries that have led to the development of the science of catalysis. However, this is not a comprehensive review on the history of catalysis and hence many concepts and discoveries have not been reported, for sake of brevity. The emerging picture is a survey of some ideas and innovations that have occurred in catalysis over the last few centuries, from early observations of alchemists to recent developments of molecular catalysis.