Overview

Marcellin (or Marcelin) Pierre Eugène Berthelot (October 25, 1827 - March 18, 1907) was a French chemist and politician noted for the Thomsen-Berthelot principle of thermochemistry. He synthesized many organic compounds from inorganic substances and disproved the theory of vitalism. He is considered as one of the greatest chemists of all time.

Educated at College Henry IV, Berthelot became professor of chemistry at the School of Pharmacy in 1859, where he completed his greatest work, the 2-volume Chimie organique fondee sur la synthese (1860), which is the basis of modern organic chemistry. Berthelot was one of the first to produce organic compounds synthetically. He argued and demonstrated that chemical phenomena are not governed by any peculiar law subject only to chemicals.

References

• Marcellin Berthelot - wikipedia
• Free thought of the day