Auguste André Thomas Cahours

August André Thomas Cahours (1813-1891) was a chemist and scientist whose contribution to organic chemistry was one of the greatest in history. He discovered, among other things, the processes of synthesis of several chemical molecules, including toluene, xylene, several organo-magnesiums, and derivatives of phosphine and arsine.

He was a professor at the École Polytechnique and the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures. In 1868 he was elected as a member of the Académie des sciences (chemistry section) and in 1880 became a commander of the Légion d'honneur.

Auguste Cahours was born on October 2nd, 1813 in Paris. He was the first of the two children of Rose Adelaide Cartront and André Cahours, who was an official at the French Ministry of Finance before becoming a tailor. He also owned his own shop on the Rue de Provence in Paris. Auguste had a young brother named Louis who was born on June 18th, 1820. He attended his neighborhood high school before being admitted to the École Polytechnique in 1833, from where he obtained his diploma in 1835 and where he subsequently returned as a chemistry professor.

After graduating, he went up in the ranks of the French Army Corps, which he quickly and suddenly abandoned to concentrate on his interest in scientific research. He became, after his time in the army, the pupil of the renowned chemist Michel Eugene Chevreul and became his "preparer", a post he held for four years at the National Museum of Natural History from 1836 onwards.

In 1839, he was transferred to the private laboratory of Jean Baptiste André Dumas, who in the same year appointed him a "repeater" at the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures. Dumas also put him in charge of the student laboratories. A year later, he became a volunteer "assistant tutor" at the Polytechnique, a position he held for 11 years until, in 1951, he was appointed "exit examiner" at the same school. His role was to monitor the progress of the Polytechnique students during their studies and classify them according to their merit upon leaving school. At the same time, he was appointed as a member of the School Improvement Council and replaced his former mentor, Chevreul, who had resigned.

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