Henri Étienne Sainte-Claire Deville (11 March 18181 July 1881) was a French

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe th ...

. He was born in the island of St Thomas in the

Danish West Indies The Danish West Indies ( da, Dansk Vestindien) or Danish Antilles or Danish Virgin Islands were a Danish colonization of the Americas, Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Saint Thomas ...

, where his father was French consul. Together with his elder brother

Charles Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English language, English and French language, French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic, Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*k ...

he was educated in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

at the

collège Rollin In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 15. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for children between ...

. In 1844, having graduated as a doctor of

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

and doctor of science, he was appointed to organize the new faculty of science at

Besançon Besançon (, , , ; archaic german: Bisanz; la, Vesontio) is the prefecture of the department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzerl ...

, where he acted as dean and professor of chemistry from 1845 to 1851. Returning to Paris in the latter year he succeeded Antoine Jérôme Balard at the

École Normale École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

, and in 1859 became professor at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

in place of J. B. A. Dumas, for whom he had begun to lecture in 1853. He died at

Boulogne-sur-Seine Boulogne-Billancourt (; often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine, ) is a wealthy and prestigious commune in the Parisian area, located from its centre. It is a subprefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department and th ...

. In 1841, he began his experiments with investigations of oil of

turpentine Turpentine (which is also called spirit of turpentine, oil of turpentine, terebenthene, terebinthine and (colloquially) turps) is a fluid obtained by the distillation of resin harvested from living trees, mainly pines. Mainly used as a special ...

and

tolu balsam Tolu balsam or balsam of Tolu is a balsam that originates from South America (Colombia, Peru, Venezuela). It is similar to (and frequently confounded with) the balsam of Peru. It is tapped from the living trunks of ''Myroxylon balsamum var. balsa ...

, in the course of which he discovered

toluene Toluene (), also known as toluol (), is a substituted aromatic hydrocarbon. It is a colorless, water-insoluble liquid with the smell associated with paint thinners. It is a mono-substituted benzene derivative, consisting of a methyl group (CH3) at ...

. But his most important work was perhaps in inorganic and thermal chemistry. In 1849 he discovered anhydrous nitric acid (

nitrogen pentoxide Dinitrogen pentoxide is the chemical compound with the formula , also known as nitrogen pentoxide or nitric anhydride. It is one of the binary nitrogen oxides, a family of compounds that only contain nitrogen and oxygen. It exists as colourles ...

), a substance interesting as the first obtained of the so-called "

anhydride An organic acid anhydride is an acid anhydride that is an organic compound. An acid anhydride is a compound that has two acyl groups bonded to the same oxygen atom. A common type of organic acid anhydride is a carboxylic anhydride, where the pa ...

s" of the monobasic acids. In 1854, he succeeded in obtaining metallic

aluminium Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. I ...

, and ultimately he devised a method by which the metal could be prepared on a large scale by the aid of

sodium Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na (from Latin ''natrium'') and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 of the periodic table. Its only stable iso ...

, the manufacture of which he also developed. Together with

Friedrich Wöhler Friedrich Wöhler () FRS(For) HonFRSE (31 July 180023 September 1882) was a German chemist known for his work in inorganic chemistry, being the first to isolate the chemical elements beryllium and yttrium in pure metallic form. He was the firs ...

, he discovered

silicon nitride Silicon nitride is a chemical compound of the elements silicon and nitrogen. is the most thermodynamically stable and commercially important of the silicon nitrides, and the term "silicon nitride" commonly refers to this specific composition. It ...

in 1857. With

Jules Henri Debray Jules Henri Debray (26 July 1827, in Amiens – 19 July 1888, in Paris) was a French chemist. In 1847 he began his studies at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, and several years later became an instructor at the Lycée Charlemagne (185 ...

(1827–1888) he worked at the

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...

metals, his object being on the one hand to prepare them pure, and on the other to find a suitable metal for the standard metre for the International Metric Commission then sitting at Paris. With

Louis Joseph Troost Louis Joseph Troost (17 October 1825, Paris – 30 September 1911) was a French chemist. Biography In 1848 he began his studies at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, where from 1851 he worked as an assistant chemist. In 1856 he receiv ...

(born 1825) he devised a method for determining vapour densities at temperatures up to 1400˚C, and, partly with F. Wöhler, he investigated the

allotropic Allotropy or allotropism () is the property of some chemical elements to exist in two or more different forms, in the same physical state, known as allotropes of the elements. Allotropes are different structural modifications of an element: th ...

forms of

silicon Silicon is a chemical element with the symbol Si and atomic number 14. It is a hard, brittle crystalline solid with a blue-grey metallic luster, and is a tetravalent metalloid and semiconductor. It is a member of group 14 in the periodic tab ...

and

boron Boron is a chemical element with the symbol B and atomic number 5. In its crystalline form it is a brittle, dark, lustrous metalloid; in its amorphous form it is a brown powder. As the lightest element of the ''boron group'' it has th ...

. The artificial preparation of minerals, especially of

apatite Apatite is a group of phosphate minerals, usually hydroxyapatite, fluorapatite and chlorapatite, with high concentrations of OH−, F− and Cl− ions, respectively, in the crystal. The formula of the admixture of the three most common e ...

and isorhor-phous minerals and of crystalline oxides, was another subject in which he made many experiments. But his best known contribution to general chemistry is his work on the phenomena of reversible reactions, which he comprehended under a general theory of "dissociation." He first took up the subject about 1857, and it was in the course of his investigations on it that he devised the apparatus known as the "Deville hot and cold tube." Deville was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

in 1860. In 1885, the ''rue Sainte-Claire-Deville'' in the 12th ''

arrondissement An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands. Europe France The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissements' ...

de Paris'' was named in his honour.

Selected publications

* "De l'aluminium et de ses combinaisons chimiques", ''Comptes-rendus de l'Académie des sciences'' (1854), article analysé sur le sit
BibNum
* "Mémoire sur la fabrication du sodium et de l'aluminium", Annales de chimie et de physique, 46 (1856), 415-58 * "De l'aluminium, ses propriétés, sa fabrication et ses applications", 1 vol., in-8°, Paris, Mallet-Bachelier, 1859,176 pages * "L'état naissant des corps", la Revue scientifique, 22 janvier 1870. * "L'internat dans l'éducation", la Revue scientifique, 2 septembre 1871.

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sainte-Claire Deville, Henri Etienne 1818 births 1881 deaths University of Paris faculty 19th-century French chemists Members of the Société Ramond People from Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands École Normale Supérieure faculty Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery

See also

Selected publications

References