Louis-Bernard Guyton, Baron de Morveau (also Louis-Bernard Guyton-Morveau after the French Revolution; 4 January 1737 – 2 January 1816) 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 ...

, politician, and

aeronaut Aeronautics is the science or art involved with the study, design process, design, and manufacturing of air flight-capable machines, and the techniques of operating aircraft and rockets within the atmosphere. While the term originally referred ...

. He is credited with producing the first systematic method of

chemical nomenclature Chemical nomenclature is a set of rules to generate systematic name#In chemistry, systematic names for chemical compounds. The nomenclature used most frequently worldwide is the one created and developed by the International Union of Pure and Appli ...

Early career

Guyton de Morveau was born in

Dijon Dijon (, ; ; in Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Digion'') is a city in and the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Côte-d'Or Departments of France, department and of the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté Regions of France, region in eas ...

, where he served as a lawyer, then '' avocat général'', of the Dijon ''

parlement Under the French Ancien Régime, a ''parlement'' () was a provincial appellate court of the Kingdom of France. In 1789, France had 13 ''parlements'', the original and most important of which was the ''Parlement'' of Paris. Though both th ...

''. In 1773, already interested in chemistry, he proposed use of "muriatic acid gas" for fumigation of buildings and as a result is sometimes given credit for having suggested

chlorine Chlorine is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Cl and atomic number 17. The second-lightest of the halogens, it appears between fluorine and bromine in the periodic table and its properties are mostly intermediate between ...

in this use. However, chlorine was not well characterized at that time, and

hydrogen chloride The Chemical compound, compound hydrogen chloride has the chemical formula and as such is a hydrogen halide. At room temperature, it is a colorless gas, which forms white fumes of hydrochloric acid upon contact with atmospheric water vapor. Hyd ...

(made by reacting

sodium chloride Sodium chloride , commonly known as Salt#Edible salt, edible salt, is an ionic compound with the chemical formula NaCl, representing a 1:1 ratio of sodium and chloride ions. It is transparent or translucent, brittle, hygroscopic, and occurs a ...

and

sulfuric acid Sulfuric acid (American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphuric acid (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth spelling), known in antiquity as oil of vitriol, is a mineral acid composed of the elements sulfur, oxygen, ...

) was actually the active gaseous fumigation agent. He was criticized by Jean Pierre Chardenon who told him that he should rest in his literary achievements and stay way from chemistry. This challenge led to his resigning his post in 1782 to dedicate himself to

chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...

, collaborating on the ''

Encyclopédie Méthodique The ''Encyclopédie méthodique par ordre des matières'' () was published between 1782 and 1832 by the France, French publisher Charles Joseph Panckoucke, his son-in-law Henri Agasse, and the latter's wife, Thérèse-Charlotte Agasse. Arranged by ...

'' and working for industrial applications. He performed various useful services in this role, and founded ''La Société des Mines et Verreries'' in Saint-Bérain-sur-Dheune. He developed the first system of

. In 1783, he was elected a foreign member of the

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences () is one of the Swedish Royal Academies, royal academies of Sweden. Founded on 2 June 1739, it is an independent, non-governmental scientific organization that takes special responsibility for promoting nat ...

and in 1788 a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

Revolution

During the Revolution, Guyton de Morveau (then styled ''Guyton-Morveau'') served as '' Procureur général syndic'' of the

Côte-d'Or Côte-d'Or () is a département in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region of Northeastern France. In 2019, it had a population of 534,124.

département In the administrative divisions of France, the department (, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level (" territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. There are a total of 101 ...

'' in 1790, was elected a deputy to the Legislative Assembly in 1792, and then to the

National Convention The National Convention () was the constituent assembly of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for its first three years during the French Revolution, following the two-year National Constituent Assembly and the ...

. Although a member of the

right wing Right-wing politics is the range of Ideology#Political ideologies, political ideologies that view certain social orders and Social stratification, hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position b ...

, he voted in favor of the execution of

King King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an Absolute monarchy, absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted Government, governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a Constitutional monarchy, ...

Louis XVI Louis XVI (Louis-Auguste; ; 23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. The son of Louis, Dauphin of France (1729–1765), Louis, Dauphin of France (son and heir- ...

. Guyton de Morveau served on the

Committee of Public Safety The Committee of Public Safety () was a committee of the National Convention which formed the provisional government and war cabinet during the Reign of Terror, a violent phase of the French Revolution. Supplementing the Committee of General D ...

from 6 April 1793 to 10 July 1793, when he resigned in order to devote his time to the manufacture of firearms, and formation of a corps of balloonists for the

French Revolutionary Army The French Revolutionary Army () was the French land force that fought the French Revolutionary Wars from 1792 to 1802. In the beginning, the French armies were characterised by their revolutionary fervour, their poor equipment and their great nu ...

. He himself flew in a balloon during the battle of Fleurus on 26 June 1794, and assisted in several other battles.

Later life

He was among the founders of the and the École de Mars, and was a professor of mineralogy at the Polytechnique (as well as its director in 1797). He became a first-class member of the

Académie des sciences The French Academy of Sciences (, ) is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific method, scientific research. It was at the forefron ...

in chemistry, on 20 November 1795, and subsequently elected vice-president of the class (1806) and then president (1807). In 1798 he married Claudine Picardet, a recently widowed friend and colleague. Under the Directory, he served on the

Council of Five Hundred The Council of Five Hundred () was the lower house of the legislature of the French First Republic under the Constitution of the Year III. It operated from 31 October 1795 to 9 November 1799 during the French Directory, Directory () period of t ...

from 1797, elected from

Ille-et-Vilaine Ille-et-Vilaine (; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Ill-e-Vilaenn'', ) is a departments of France, department of France, located in the regions of France, region of Brittany (administrative region), Brittany in the northwest of the country. It is named a ...

, and was

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry; in a business context, corporate treasury. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be ...

administrator of the

Consulate A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country (host state), usually an embassy (or, only between two Commonwealth countries, a ...

in 1799.

Works

Besides being a diligent contributor to the scientific periodicals of the day, Guyton wrote ''Mémoire sur l’éducation publique'' (1762); a satirical poem entitled ''Le Rat iconoclaste, ou le Jésuite croqué'' (1763); ''Discours publics et éloges'' (1775–1782); ''Plaidoyers sur plusieurs questions de droit'' (1785); and ''Traité des moyens de désinfecter l’air'' (1801), describing the disinfecting powers of chlorine, and of

hydrochloric acid Hydrochloric acid, also known as muriatic acid or spirits of salt, is an aqueous solution of hydrogen chloride (HCl). It is a colorless solution with a distinctive pungency, pungent smell. It is classified as a acid strength, strong acid. It is ...

gas which he had successfully used at Dijon in 1773. With Hugues Maret (1726–1785) and Jean François Durande (d. 1794) he also published the ''Élémens de chymie théorique et pratique'' (1776–1777). File:Lavoisier Nomenclature01.gif, First page of Lavoisier's ''Chymical Nomenclature'' File:Airship flown by w6634484w 0 xs55md123.tiff, Airship flown by Louis-Bernard Guyton de Morveau, 1784 File:Early flight 02562u (6).jpg, First flight with a dirigible balloon, 12 June 1784. File:Méthode de Nomenclature Chimique-2.jpg, 1787 copy of "Méthode de Nomenclature Chimique," featuring work by Morveau File:Méthode de Nomenclature Chimique-3.jpg, 1787 copy of "Méthode de Nomenclature Chimique," featuring work by Morveau

Awards and honors

During his lifetime, Guyton de Morveau received the cross of the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

(1803) and was made an Officer of the Legion of Honour for service to humanity (1805). He was made a

baron Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than ...

of the

First French Empire The First French Empire or French Empire (; ), also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. It lasted from ...

in 1811. Louis Bernard Guyton de Morveau's 1788 publication entitled ''Méthode de Nomenclature Chimique'', published with colleagues

Antoine Lavoisier Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier ( ; ; 26 August 17438 May 1794), When reduced without charcoal, it gave off an air which supported respiration and combustion in an enhanced way. He concluded that this was just a pure form of common air and that i ...

Claude Louis Berthollet Claude Louis Berthollet (, 9 December 1748 – 6 November 1822) was a Savoyard-French chemist who became vice president of the French Senate in 1804. He is known for his scientific contributions to the theory of chemical equilibria via the ...

, and

Antoine François, comte de Fourcroy Antoine is a French given name (from the Latin ''Antonius'' meaning 'highly praise-worthy') that is a variant of Danton, Titouan, D'Anton and Antonin. The name is most common in France, Switzerland, Belgium, Canada, West Greenland, Haiti, Fren ...

, was honored by a Citation for Chemical Breakthrough Award from the Division of History of Chemistry of the American Chemical Society, presented at the Académie des Sciences (Paris) in 2015. Guyton de Morveau died in Paris on 2 January 1816.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guyton De Morveau, Louis Bernard 1737 births 1816 deaths Scientists from Dijon Deputies to the French National Convention 19th-century French chemists 18th-century French lawyers Barons Guyton-Morveau Members of the French Academy of Sciences Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences People on the Committee of Public Safety Regicides of Louis XVI Fellows of the Royal Society 18th-century French chemists Politicians from Dijon