GAY-LUSSAC 



1778-1850 



T GUIS JOSEPH GAY-LUSSAC, the brilliant chemist 

 ^^ and physicist, was born at St L6onard-le-Noblat 

 (Haute- Vienne), France, on 6th December 1778. 



The same year (1793) that witnessed the execution of 

 Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette, Gay-Lussac came to 

 Paris and entered the Ecole Poly technique. Although 

 so young, it was his delight and ambition to be in 

 Paris. " Paris," said Heinrich Heine, " is not simply the 

 capital of France, but of the whole civilized world, and 

 the rendezvous of its most brilliant intellects/' Gay- 

 Lussac studied for three years at the Ecole Polytechnique, 

 after which he was promoted to the Dpartement des 

 Ponts et Chausse"es (a Government department including 

 everything connected with the making and repairing of 

 roads, bridges, canals, etc.). His next position was as 

 an assistant to C. L. Berthollet a celebrated chemist 

 and in 1801, a year after the terrible and decisive 

 Battle of Marengo, Gay-Lussac published his first paper 

 on "La Dilatation des Gaz et Vapeurs," which was 



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