Jean Baptiste Dumas

[Jean Baptiste Dumas] Chemist and senator, born Alais, France, 1800; died Cannes, France, 1884. Alone or with others he carried on brilliant investigations which brought him into the front rank among chemists of the 19th century. Invented a vapor density apparatus, made important experiments in the determination of atomic weights, and in alcohol and ether, discovered oxamide, was the author of the so-called "theory of substitution," and discriminated between atoms and molecules. His lectures at the Sorbonne brought him further renown. In 1849 he turned his attention to politics, eventually being made a senator. He became a member of the French Academy in 1878. A list of his papers was published in the "Catalogue of Scientific Papers of the Royal Society, London." He was a consistent Catholic.

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