Louis Proust (1754-1826) was a French chemist and pharmacist considered the founder of modern chemistry. He was known for being the creator of the Law of Definite Proportions or Proust's Law, which is the fundamental principle of analytical chemistry.
With it he demonstrated that the relative amounts of the constituent elements of any pure chemical compound remain unchanged, regardless of the source of the compound. Proust also conducted significant applied research in metallurgy, explosives, and nutritional chemistry.
Louis Proust. By HappyApple at English Wikipedia.
In 1789 he moved to Madrid to be director of the Royal Laboratory, under the patronage of Carlos IV. There he taught at the Segovia School of Chemistry and at the University of Salamanca.
However, when Napoleon invaded Spain, they burned Proust's laboratory and forced him to return to France, where he lived in poverty for a few years before Louis XVIII granted him a pension. On July 5, 1826, he died in Angers, France.
Biography
Early years
Joseph Louis Proust was born in Angers, France, on September 26, 1754, to his parents Rosalie Sartre and Joseph Proust, a city apothecary.
He began his studies at the Local College of the Oratory. Meanwhile, his father allowed him to work in his pharmacy and thus he was expanding his knowledge, not only in this area, but also in herbalism.
At age 20 he left for Paris to study chemistry under the guidance of Hilario Martin Rouelle, and at 21 he was head of the Hospital de Salpétriere in Paris, specifically in the Pharmaceutical area. During his stay in Paris, he made great friends, including the renowned chemists Lavoisier and Pilâtre de Rozier.
In 1778, Proust left the pharmacy to take a chair in chemistry at the Seminario Patriótico Bascongado in Bergara, Spain.
Career path
In 1780 Proust returned to Paris, where he taught chemistry at the Musée, a private educational institution founded by his friend and businessman Pilâtre de Rozier. Part of this association involved Proust in aerostatic experiments, culminating in a balloon ascent with Pilâtre on June 23, 1784, at Versailles, in the presence of the royal court.
Thanks to his good work and the recommendation of his friend Lavoisier, in 1786, he was hired to teach chemistry in Madrid. Later, he would leave the capital to teach chemistry and metallurgy at the Royal Artillery College located in Segovia.
In 1799 he was called to take over the management of the Real Madrid Laboratory, once the chemistry laboratories of the Ministries of Finance and State merged.
His prestige continued to grow and he was called from France to offer him a job as a chemist in a company in his country. However, he declined the offer in view of the freedom he enjoyed in Spain in terms of research and because of the advances in his chemical discoveries.
However, in late 1806, he had to travel to France with his wife, Anne Rose Chatelain D'aubigne, for personal reasons. But when he wanted to return to Spain, it was not possible since the political situation in the country had changed.
King Charles IV abdicated the throne and the funds that were earmarked for research were cut, so he had no chance to continue making advances in chemistry.
Last years and death
On the death of his wife in 1817, Proust moved to Angers, where in 1820 he took charge of the pharmacy from his ailing brother Joachim.
Although Proust had returned to France in unfavorable circumstances, his scientific reputation was recognized. In 1816, he was chosen as a member of the French Academy of Sciences, in addition to being named a Knight of the Legion of Honor. Louis XVIII, King of France and Navarre, granted him a life pension thanks to his career and important contributions.
Louis Proust passed away on July 5, 1826 in his hometown of Angers, at the age of 71.
Plays
One of his most important works was Anales del Real Laboratorio de Química de Segovia. This work consists of two books, which appeared in 1791 and 1795 respectively.
By 1799 the Annals of Natural History came to light, which in 1801 were renamed Annals of Natural Sciences, drawn up and edited by Proust. It was the first Spanish magazine devoted entirely to the natural sciences.
In 1803, he published his work Inquiries into copper tinning, tin dishes, and glazing. Later, in 1809, he published Memoire sur le sucre des raisins.
Contributions
When he was still very young, he participated in the creation of a botanical garden in his city with the support of his father. On the other hand, at the time he was a chemistry professor at the Royal Seminary of Vergara, he managed to install his first chemistry and metallurgy laboratory, thanks to the support of the Royal Basque Society of Friends of the Country.
Later, thanks to his prestige as a professor of chemistry and metallurgy at the Royal College of Artillery of Segovia, he managed to obtain financial support to build the best laboratories that allowed him to carry out his work on the Law of Defined Proportions.
This law says that, when combining two or more elements, they give a certain compound and they always do so in a constant mass ratio.
After some disputes with other colleagues about the statements of the law, in 1811 the famous and renowned Swedish chemist Jons Jacob Berzeluis recognized it, laying the foundations for Dalton's Atomic Theory.
One of his valuable contributions was made in 1808, given the shortage of sugar cane to produce the sweetener. Napoleon summoned all the reputed chemists who could solve this problem in the midst of the crisis. To do this, Proust took up his research done in Spain some time ago (1799), in which he discovered the sugar (glucose) in grapes.
Unfortunately, part of his legacy was lost after the French invasion, including the laboratory and the library of the Artillery Academy.
He was recognized for his contributions and for the Law of Defined Proportions, as did Lavoisier for the Law of Conservation of Mass and Dalton for the Law of Multiple Proportions.
References
- Biography of Joseph Louis Proust (1754-1826). (2019). Taken from thebiography.us
- Joseph Louis Proust - Oxford Reference. (2019). Taken from oxfordreference.com
- Joseph Louis Proust - Encyclopedia.com. (2019). Taken from encyclopedia.com
- Joseph-Louis Proust - French chemist. (2019). Taken from britannica.com
- Louis Joseph Proust - Royal Academy of History. (2019). Taken from dbe.rah.es