History of Chemistry at the Museum

Le laboratoire de chimie et le droguier du Roy en 1676 - Gravure de Sébastien Leclerc

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© MNHN

 The chemistry laboratory and medicinal drugs collection of the king in 1676. (Sébastien Leclerc )

Chemistry in  the « Jardin Royal des Plantes Médicinales »  (Royal garden for medicinal plants)

Since the creation of  « Jardin Royal des plantes Médicinales » in 1626, chemistry was taught along with botany and anatomy. The subject was taught by a professor with demonstrations that was carried out by a demonstrator. Many of these demonstrators marked the history of chemistry and often  strived to counter the teachings of the professor through their experiences.

In 1647, chemistry teaching was handed over to the Scottish physician alchemist William Davisson: This is was the first free chemistry class  taught to the public in France. Davisson’s successors transformed slowly the laboratory in the Royal garden into one of the highly animated chemistry laboratories of the 18^th century. Among them, Guillaume-François Rouelle, also called Rouelle l’ainé was one of the important figures of his time: most of the great chemists belonging to the pre-revolution era such as Bayen, Bucquet, Darcet, Marcquer and especially Lavoisier were formed in his laboratory. Moreover, philosophers Denis Diderot and Jean-Jacques Rousseau  too had followed  Rouelle’s class  in the Gardens and information about these classes are known to us through the notes of Diderot. Later, Fourcroy who  was a “chimiste et conventionnel” taught  Lavoisier’s new chemistry, of which he was a strong proponent in the Royal garden and  in the Museum after 1793 .

Édit du Roy

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© MNHN

Le Jardin du Roy - Gravure de F. Scalberge 1636

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© MNHN

Chemistry in the Museum of Natural History

On 10 juin 1793, the  « jardin de Roy » was renamed « Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle » and chemistry continued to develop with two chairs namely, general chemistry  dedicated to theoretical chemistry and chemical arts dedicated to applications of chemistry.  Later in1850, they were known as «Applied organic chemistry » and « Applied inorganic chemistry » .

Personalities such as Nicolas Vauquelin, Joseph Gay-Lussac, Michel Eugène Chevreul marked both the fields through their work and teachings.  Edmond Frémy, the last professor of inorganic chemistry deserves a special mention. In 1864, period when chemical engineering schools did not exist in France, Fremy created his chemistry school in the Museum that offered free courses and gave greater importance for experiments. He was the one who inaugurated in December 1872, the building situated at 63, rue Buffon where stands the actual chemistry laboratory. Between 1864 to 1892 , after which the school was abolished, more than 1400 students were formed who later became the artists of the chemical industry and university research and the well known  among them are Henir Moissan, first french who was awarded Nobel prize in chemistry (1906), Léon Arnaud, Alexandre Etard, Gabriel Bertrand, Auguste Verneuil, Henri Becquerel, Jacques Curie.

Les cours publics de Chimie par Gay-Lussac puis Frémy

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© MNHN

Chemistry classes for the public by Gay-Lussac and later by Fremy.

Le laboratoire au temps de Frémy (1814-1894)

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© MNHN

Les cours publics de chimie par G. Lussac

Navigate through four centuries of history(s) of chemistry at the Museum told in a long animated story.

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Discover the animated story “A little history of chemistry at the Museum”

They tell the story of chemistry in the magazine “ça m’intereste”, from March 23, 2023

Jardin Royal des Plantes Médicinales

List of professors and demonstrators

Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle

List of professors