Our history [ Return towards Who we are ]

Founded in 1902, Air Liquide began as an idea to produce oxygen industrially using liquid air, and came into existence after an encounter between two men: Georges Claude, the visionary and Paul Delorme, the pragmatic creator.

The turn of the 19^th century was a major turning point in the race to modernity, when nearly each day saw new technological advances.

Georges Claude’s contribution to his century entailed a project to liquefy air in order to separate its different components of oxygen, nitrogen and argon. After two years of tireless perseverance and technical setbacks, he finally succeeded on May 25, 1902 in developing a new air liquefaction process.

The launch of the company was sealed with his partnership with Paul Delorme. On November 8, 1902, a public limited company was constituted with a capital of 100,000 French francs subscribed by 24 shareholders. It was thus that Air Liquide, company for the Study and Exploitation of Georges Claude’s Processes, was born.