Charles Bernard Desormes
Encyclopedia
Charles Bernard Desormes (3 June 1771 - 30 August 1862) was a French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
physicist
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
and chemist. He determined the ratio of the specific heats of gas
Gas
Gas is one of the three classical states of matter . Near absolute zero, a substance exists as a solid. As heat is added to this substance it melts into a liquid at its melting point , boils into a gas at its boiling point, and if heated high enough would enter a plasma state in which the electrons...
es in 1819. He did this and almost all his scientific work in collaboration with his son-in-law Nicolas Clément (1779–1841). Clément and Desormes correctly determined the composition of carbon disulphide (CS2) and carbon monoxide (CO) in 1801–02. In 1806 they elucidated all the chemical reactions that take place during the production of sulphuric acid by the lead chamber method, as used in industrial chemistry. In 1813 they made a study of iodine and its compounds.
Désormes was born in Dijon
Dijon
Dijon is a city in eastern France, the capital of the Côte-d'Or département and of the Burgundy region.Dijon is the historical capital of the region of Burgundy. Population : 151,576 within the city limits; 250,516 for the greater Dijon area....
, Côte-d'Or
Côte-d'Or
Côte-d'Or is a department in the eastern part of France.- History :Côte-d'Or is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was formed from part of the former province of Burgundy.- Geography :...
. He was a student at the École Polytechnique
École Polytechnique
The École Polytechnique is a state-run institution of higher education and research in Palaiseau, Essonne, France, near Paris. Polytechnique is renowned for its four year undergraduate/graduate Master's program...
in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
from 1794, when it opened, and subsequently worked there as a demonstrator. Désormes met Clément at the Ecole Polytechnique 1801, beginning a scientific collaboration that lasted until 1824. He left the Ecole 1804 to establish an alum refinery at Verberie
Verberie
Verberie is a village in northern France. It is designated municipally as a commune within the département of Oise.It lies southwest of Compiègne on the main road to Senlis and Paris. The railway station is on the line from Compiegne to Crépy-en-Valois. It has an average income of €20,442...
, Oise
Oise
Oise is a department in the north of France. It is named after the river Oise.-History:Oise is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
, with Clément and Joseph Montgolfier, who had earlier pioneered balloon flight. Desormes was elected counsellor for Oise 1830 and in 1848 to the national assembly, in which he sat with the Republican
Republicanism
Republicanism is the ideology of governing a nation as a republic, where the head of state is appointed by means other than heredity, often elections. The exact meaning of republicanism varies depending on the cultural and historical context...
s.