Francis Thomas "Tom" Bacon OBE FREng FRS[1] (21 December 1904 – 24 May 1992) was an English engineer who in 1932 developed the first practical hydrogen–oxygen fuel cell.
[2] Fuel cells were first demonstrated by Sir William Robert Grove in 1839, but his invention lay largely dormant for over 100 years until it was revived by Bacon.
The U.S. President Richard Nixon welcomed Bacon to the White House, and told him; "Without you Tom, we wouldn't have gotten to the moon.”[2] After the successful lunar landing of Apollo 11 in July 1969, Tom and his wife Barbara met astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins at a reception hosted by British Prime Minister Harold Wilson at 10 Downing Street.
The patents for the fuel cell were licensed by Pratt and Whitney as part of a successful bid to provide electrical power for the Apollo program to land man on the moon.
Hydrogen and oxygen gases were already on board the ship for propulsion and life support, and the by-product water could be used for drinking and humidifying the atmosphere of the capsule.