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CHEVREUL, MICHEL EUGENE (1786-1889)

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Originally appearing in Volume V06, Page 115 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CHEVREUL, See also:MICHEL See also:EUGENE (1786-1889) , See also:French chemist, was See also:born, on the 31st of See also:August 1786, at See also:Angers, where his See also:father was a physician. At about the See also:age of seventeen he went to See also:Paris and entered L. N. See also:Vauquelin's chemical laboratory, afterwards becoming his assistant at the natural See also:history museum in the Jardin See also:des Plantes. In 1813 he was appointed See also:professor' of See also:chemistry at the Lycee See also:Charlemagne, and subsequently under-took the directorship of the Gobelins See also:tapestry See also:works, where he carried out his researches on See also:colour contrasts (De la loi du contraste simultane des couleurs, 1839). In 1826 he became a member of the See also:Academy of Sciences, and in the same See also:year was elected a See also:foreign member of the Royal Society of See also:London, whose See also:Copley See also:medal he was awarded in 1857. He succeeded his See also:master, Vauquelin, as professor of organic chemistry at the natural history museum in 1830, and See also:thirty-three years later assumed its directorship also; this he relinquished in 1879, though he still retained his professorship. In 1886 the completion of his hundredth year was celebrated with public rejoicings; and after his See also:death, which occurred in Paris on the 9th of See also:April 18891 he was honoured with a public funeral. In 1901 a statue was erected to his memory in the museum with which he was connected for so many years. His scientific See also:work covered a wide range, but his name is best known for the classical researches he carried out on See also:animal fats, published in 1823 (Recherches sur See also:les See also:corps See also:Bras d'origine animale). These enabled him to elucidate the true nature of See also:soap; he was also able to discover the See also:composition of stearin and olein, and to isolate stearic and oleic acids, the names of which were invented by him. This work led to important improvements in the processes of See also:candle-manufacture.

Chevreul was a determined enemy of charlatanism in every See also:

form, and a See also:complete sceptic as to the " scientific " psychical See also:research or See also:spiritualism which had begun in his See also:time (see his De la baguette divinatoire, et des tables tournantes, 1864).

End of Article: CHEVREUL, MICHEL EUGENE (1786-1889)

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