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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] Eugene Chevreul Biography CHEVREUL, MICHEL EUGÈNE, born at Angers, in the Department of Maine-et-Loire. He studied chemistry in Paris, became assistant to Vauquelin, and in 1813 was appointed professor of the physical sciences at the Lycée Charlemagne. In 1820 he was made examiner in the Ecole Polytechnique and in 1824 director of the dyeing department in the Gobelin manufactory. In 1830 he became professor of applied chemistry in the Museum of Natural History and in 1879 retired from active service. In recognition of his important services to science many honors were conferred upon him; he was made a member of the Institute, a fellow of the Royal Society of London, a commander of the Legion of Honor, etc. In 1886 the centenary of his birth was celebrated with great enthusiasm; and in the same year Harvard University, on the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of its foundation, conferred upon him the degree of LL.D. A monument to his memory was erected at Angers in 1893. Another statue of Chevreul may be seen in the Museum of Natural History in Paris. Among his researches may be mentioned his successful investigation of the chemical nature of fats, which has led to the achievement of industrial results of the greatest importance. He was the first to demonstrate that the various fats are mixtures of glycerides, or compounds of glycerin with oleic stearic, and palmitic acids. (See FATS.) He recognized that the stearic acid (or usually rather a mixture of stearic and palmitic acids) that may be obtained from solid fats would make an excellent material for candles. He was, however, unable to "break the grain" of the stearic acid (i.e., to prevent it from solidifying in the form of large crystals), and this was at least one of the reasons of the failure of his attempt to found the "stearin-candle" (or, as it should be called the "stearic-acid candle") industry. Nevertheless it was on the basis of the discoveries of Chevreul that this important industry was subsequently established in 1851. He wrote: Recherches chimiques sur les corps gras d'origine animale (1823); Considerations générales sur l'analyse organique et sur les applications (1824); Leçons de chimie appliquée à la teinture (2 vols., 1831); De la loi du contraste simultané des couleurs et de l'assortiment des objets coloriés (1839); Théorie des effets optiques que présentent les étoffes de soie (1846); Des couleurs et de leur application aux arts industriels (1864); Résumé d'une histoire de la matière (1878) ; etc. Consult Malloizel, Euvres scientifiques de Cheureul (1887) ; also Hofmann, "Nekrolog auf Chevreul," in the Berichte der deutschen chemischen Gesellschaft, for 1887. The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. V (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 160. |