Louis-Marie Hilaire Bernigaud de Grange, Count (''Comte'') de Chardonnet (1 May 1839 – 11 March 1924) was a French

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

and industrialist from

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 Switzer ...

, and inventor of

artificial silk Artificial silk or art silk is any synthetic fiber which resembles silk, but typically costs less to produce. Frequently, "artificial silk" is just a synonym for rayon. When made out of bamboo viscose it is also sometimes called bamboo silk. Th ...

. In the late 1870s, Chardonnet was working with Louis Pasteur on a remedy to the epidemic that was destroying French silkworms. Failure to clean up a spill in the darkroom resulted in Chardonnet's discovery of

nitrocellulose Nitrocellulose (also known as cellulose nitrate, flash paper, flash cotton, guncotton, pyroxylin and flash string, depending on form) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose through exposure to a mixture of nitric acid and ...

as a potential replacement for real

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the ...

. Realizing the value of such a discovery, Chardonnet began to develop his new product. He called his new invention "Chardonnet silk" (''soie de Chardonnet'') and displayed it in the Paris Exhibition of 1889. Unfortunately, Chardonnet's material was extremely flammable, and was subsequently replaced with other, more stable materials. He was the first to patent artificial silk, although

Georges Audemars Georges may refer to: Places *Georges River, New South Wales, Australia *Georges Quay (Dublin) *Georges Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania Other uses * Georges (name) * ''Georges'' (novel), a novel by Alexandre Dumas * "Georges" (song), a 197 ...

had invented a variety called rayon in 1855.

References

1839 births 1924 deaths Businesspeople from Besançon 19th-century French engineers 19th-century French inventors {{France-engineer-stub