When and where was Claude Louis Berthollet born?
Claude Louis Berthollet entered the world on the 9th of December 1748 in Talloires. This small town sat near Annecy within the Duchy of Savoy.
Short answers, pulled from the story.
Claude Louis Berthollet entered the world on the 9th of December 1748 in Talloires. This small town sat near Annecy within the Duchy of Savoy.
Antoine Lavoisier worked alongside Claude Louis Berthollet to create new naming rules and they published Méthode de Nomenclature Chimique in 1788. Their system replaced confusing common names with logical descriptions based on composition.
Berthollet produced a liquid bleach in 1789 within his laboratory on the quay Javel in Paris by passing chlorine gas through a solution of sodium carbonate. The resulting mixture became known as Eau de Javel or Javel water.
Later discoveries showed some non-stoichiometric compounds exist without obeying strict ratios and these exceptions are now named berthollides in honor of Claude Louis Berthollet's original insight. Joseph Proust argued that chemical compounds always contain fixed ratios but Berthollet believed those ratios changed based on reactant proportions taken initially.
Claude Louis Berthollet himself passed away in Arcueil on the 6th of November 1822. His personal life ended tragically when his son Amédée-Barthélémy died in 1811 before this final event.