Henri Victor Regnault
| Henri Victor Regnault | |
|---|---|
Henri Victor Regnault
|
|
| Born |
21 July 1810 Aachen |
| Died |
19 January 1878 (aged 67) Auteuil (now a part of Paris) |
| Nationality | France |
| Fields | thermodynamics |
| Alma mater | École Polytechnique |
| Influences | Justus von Liebig |
| Influenced | William Thomson |
| Notable awards |
Rumford Medal (1848) Copley Medal (1869) Matteucci Medal (1875) |
Henri Victor Regnault (21 July 1810 – 19 January 1878) was a French chemist and physicist best known for his careful measurements of the thermal properties of gases. He was an early thermodynamicist and was mentor to William Thomson in the late 1840s.
Born in Aachen in 1810, he moved to Paris at the age of eight, following the death of his parents. There, he worked for an upholstery firm until he was eighteen. In 1830, he was admitted to the École Polytechnique, and in 1832 he graduated from the École des mines.
Working under Justus von Liebig at Gießen, Regnault distinguished himself in the nascent field of organic chemistry by synthesizing several chlorinated hydrocarbons (e.g. vinyl chloride, polyvinylidene chloride, dichloromethane), and he was appointed professor of chemistry at the University of Lyon. In 1840, he was appointed the chair of chemistry of the École Polytechnique, and in 1841, he became a professor of Physics in the Collège de France.
Beginning in 1843, he began compiling extensive numerical tables on the properties of steam. These were published in 1847, and led to his receiving the Rumford Medal of the Royal Society of London and appointment as Chief Engineer of Mines. In 1851 he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. In 1854 he was appointed director of the porcelain works at Sèvres, the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres.
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