François Stanislas Cloez (24 June 1817 – 12 October 1883) was a French

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...

, who authored both as "''F. S. Cloez''" and "''S. Cloez''", and is known for his pioneering role in analytical chemistry during the 19th century. He was a founder and later president of the Chemistry Society of France. In 1851, Cloez and Italian chemist

Stanislao Cannizzaro Stanislao Cannizzaro ( , , ; 13 July 1826 – 10 May 1910) was an Italian chemist. He is famous for the Cannizzaro reaction and for his influential role in the atomic-weight deliberations of the Karlsruhe Congress in 1860. Biography Ca ...

, working on collaborative research, prepared

cyanamide Cyanamide is an organic compound with the formula C N2 H2. This white solid is widely used in agriculture and the production of pharmaceuticals and other organic compounds. It is also used as an alcohol-deterrent drug. The molecule features a ...

by the action of

ammonia Ammonia is an inorganic chemical compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the chemical formula, formula . A Binary compounds of hydrogen, stable binary hydride and the simplest pnictogen hydride, ammonia is a colourless gas with a distinctive pu ...

cyanogen chloride Cyanogen chloride is an inorganic compound with the formula . This triatomic pseudohalogen is an easily condensed colorless gas. More commonly encountered in the laboratory is the related compound cyanogen bromide, a room-temperature solid that is ...

ethereal Ethereal may refer to: * Ethereal (horse), a horse that won Australia's Caulfield Cup as well as Melbourne Cup in 2001 * Ethereal (musician), American rapper and record producer * Ethereal wave, or simply ethereal, a subgenre of dark wave music * W ...

solution. In the 1870s, he commenced the identification of the constituents of individual

essential oil An essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile (easily evaporated at normal temperatures) chemical compounds from plants. Essential oils are also known as volatile oils, ethereal oils, aetheroleum, or simply as the ...

s and their classification into groups according to their suitability for

medicinal Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

, industrial and

perfumery Perfume (, ) is a mixture of fragrance, fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), Fixative (perfumery), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agre ...

purposes. He identified the major constituent of

eucalyptus oil Eucalyptus oil is the generic name for distilled oil from the leaves of ''Eucalyptus'', a genus of the plant family Myrtaceae, mostly native to Australia but cultivated worldwide. Eucalyptus oil has a history of wide application, as a pharmace ...

, which he called "''

eucalyptol Eucalyptol (also called cineole) is a monoterpenoid colorless liquid, and a bicyclic ether. It has a fresh camphor-like odor and a spicy, cooling taste. It is insoluble in water, but miscible with organic solvents. Eucalyptol makes up about ...

''" (now generally known as cineole). In honour of his work on eucalyptus oil '' Eucalyptus cloeziana'' (Gympie messmate) is named after him. Cloez also played a role in developing a theory on the origin of life elsewhere in the

Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...

.Franco Cataldo. "Organic matter formed from hydrolysis of metal carbides of the iron peak of cosmic elemental abundance". ''International Journal of Astrobiology'' (2003), vol. 2, pp 51-6

/ref> In 1864, Cloez was the first scientist to examine a

carbonaceous chondrite Carbonaceous chondrites or C chondrites are a class of chondritic meteorites comprising at least 8 known groups and many ungrouped meteorites. They include some of the most primitive known meteorites. The C chondrites represent only a small propo ...

, the Orgueil meteorite, after it had fallen in France. Cloez said that its content "would seem to indicate the existence of organized substances in celestial bodies." The Orgueil meteorite was subject to a hoax, when a sample of the meteorite was contaminated with a rush seed. The hoax was discovered in the 1960s when the meteorite was being examined for evidence of extraterrestrial biological material. There is no suggestion in literature that Cloez was party to this hoax.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cloez, F. S. 1817 births 1883 deaths 19th-century French chemists French organic chemists