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Jean-Baptiste Dumas

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Jean-Baptiste Dumas
File:Jean Baptiste André Dumas.jpg
Born 14 July 1800
Alès, France
Died 10 April 1884 (aged 83)
Cannes, France
Known for Atomic weights
Scientific career
Fields Chemistry
Theses Dissertation sur la densité de la vapeur de quelques corps simples (1832)
Mémoire sur les substances végétales qui se rapprochent du camphre et sur quelques huiles essentielles (1832)
Notable students Eugène-Anatole Demarçay,[1] Auguste Laurent

Jean Baptiste André Dumas (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ batist ɑ̃dʁe dyma]; 14 July 1800 – 10 April 1884) was a French chemist, best known for his works on organic analysis and synthesis, as well as the determination of atomic weights (relative atomic masses) and molecular weights by measuring vapor densities. He also developed a method for the analysis of nitrogen in compounds.[2]

Biography

Dumas was born in Alès (Gard), and became an apprentice to an apothecary in his native town.[3] In 1816, he moved to Geneva, where he attended lectures by M. A. Pictet in physics, C. G. de la Rive in chemistry, and A. P. de Candolle in botany, and before he had reached his majority, he was engaged with Pierre Prévost in original work on problems of physiological chemistry and embryology. In 1822, he moved to Paris, acting on the advice of Alexander von Humboldt, where he became professor of chemistry, initially at the Lyceum, later (1835) at the École polytechnique. He was one of the founders of the École centrale des arts et manufactures (later named École centrale Paris) in 1829.

In 1832 Dumas became a member of the French Academy of Sciences. From 1868 until his death in 1884 he would serve the academy as the permanent secretary for its department of Physical Sciences. In 1838, Dumas was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The same year he became correspondent of the Royal Institute of the Netherlands and, when that became the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1851, he joined as a foreign member.[4] Dumas was president of Société d'encouragement pour l'industrie nationale from 1845 to 1864. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1860.[5]

After 1848, he exchanged much of his scientific work for ministerial posts under Napoléon III. He became a member of the National Legislative Assembly. He acted as minister of agriculture and commerce for a few months in 1850–1851, and subsequently became a senator, president of the municipal council of Paris, and master of the French mint, but his official career came to a sudden end with the fall of the Second Empire.

Dumas was a devout Catholic who would often defend Christian views against critics.[6]

Dumas died at Cannes in 1884, and is buried at the Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris, in a large tomb near the back wall.

Scientific work

Dumas was one of the first to criticise the electro-chemical doctrines of Jöns Jakob Berzelius, which, at the time his work began, were widely accepted as the true theory of the constitution of compound bodies, and opposed a unitary view to the dualistic conception of the Swedish chemist.[7] In a paper on the atomic theory, published in 1826, he anticipated to a remarkable extent some ideas which are frequently supposed to belong to a later period; and the continuation of these studies led him to the ideas about substitution (metalepsis) which were developed about 1839 into the theory (Older Style Theory) that in organic chemistry there are certain types which remain unchanged even when their hydrogen is replaced by an equivalent quantity of a halide element. The classification of organic compounds into homologous series was advanced as one consequence of his researches into the acids generated by the oxidation of the alcohols.

Dumas also showed that kidneys remove urea from the blood.[8][3]

Vapour densities and atomic masses

Dumas perfected the method of measuring vapor densities which was also important in determining atomic weights (see below). A known amount of the substance being analyzed was put into a previously weighed glass bulb, which was then sealed and heated in water to vaporize the substance. The pressure was recorded with a barometer, and the bulb is allowed to cool to determine the mass of the vapor. The universal gas law was then used to determine the moles of gas within the bulb.[9]: 40

In an 1826 paper, he described his method for ascertaining vapour densities, and the redeterminations which he undertook by its aid of the atomic weights of carbon and oxygen proved the forerunners of a long series which included some thirty of the elements, the results being mostly published in 1858–1860. He showed "in all elastic fluids observed under the same conditions, the molecules are placed at equal distances". He also determined the atomic weight of samarium, one of the rare earth elements.[10]: 718–720

Dumas established new values for the atomic mass of thirty elements, setting the value for hydrogen to 1.

Determination of nitrogen

In 1833, Dumas developed a method for estimating the amount of nitrogen in an organic compound, founding modern analysis methods. He made important revisions to the existing combustion methods with a sophisticated pneumatic trough. These revisions were the flushing of the combustion tube with carbon dioxide and the addition of potassium hydroxide in the pneumatic trough. Flushing with carbon dioxide eliminated the nitrogen present in the air that previously occupied the combustion tube, eliminating the need for correction due to nitrogen in the air. The potassium hydroxide dissolved the passing carbon dioxide gas, which left nitrogen as the only gas in the collection tube.[11][9]: 122–124

Theory of substitution and theory of chemical types

At the Tuileries palace in Paris, guests at a soirée began reacting adversely to a gas suddenly emitted by the candles. Alexandre Brongniart asked his son-in-law, Dumas, to investigate. Dumas found that the coughing and dangerous fumes were caused by chlorine present in the candle wax. Chlorine had been used to whiten the candles, and Dumas concluded that it must have combined during the candle-making process. This led Dumas to investigate the behavior of chlorine substitution in other chemical compounds.[9]: 122–124

One of the most important research projects of Dumas was that on the action of chlorine on acetic acid to form trichloroacetic acid – a derivative of essentially the same character as the acetic acid itself,[12] though a stronger acid. Dumas extended this to a theory (sometimes considered a law) which states that in an organic compound, a hydrogen atom may be substituted for any halogen.[9]: 122–124

In his published paper on the subject, Dumas introduces his theory of types. Since the trichloracetic acid retained similar properties to acetic acid, Dumas reasoned that there were certain chemical structures that remained comparatively unchanged even if one atom were changed within them. The basis of this theory rests in the natural history of organism classification, which Dumas learned under the botanist de Candolle. This new theory challenged Berzelius's previous theory of electrochemical dualism and was also a competitor of radical theory.[9]: 122–124[13]

Family

He married Herminie Brongniart, daughter of Alexandre Brongniart, in 1826.[14]

Honours

Dumas is one of the 72 names inscribed on the Eiffel tower.

See also

From the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia

Jean-Baptiste Dumas — Distinguished French chemist and senator, b. at Alais, department of Gard, 14 July, 1800; d. at Cannes, 10 April, 1884. Like many other distinguished chemists, Dumas began his career as a pharmacist, and at Geneva, where he went when a very young man, he obtained a position in the Le Royer pharmacy. Here in connexion with Prévost he published a memoir on the physiology of the nervous system which attracted attention and is still well known. This led to an invitation to go to Paris, where he became tutor of Thénard's course of lectures in chemistry at the Ecole Polytechnique and was appointed professor at the Athénée. While engaged in these positions his published researches concerning the vapour density of the elements, those on the formulæ of alcohols and ethers, his memoirs on the law of substitution in organic compounds, and his work on chemical types gave him an illustrious position in chemical investigation. The first researches on the replacing of hydrogen by chlorine in organic bodies is due to him; this was supplemented by researches as to the atomic weight of carbon, his labours doing much to establish the relations of the hydro-carbon compounds in organic chemistry. With Boussingault he studied the composition of water and of the atmosphere. With Stas he investigated the composition of carbon dioxide, and later his memoirs on hydrogen and the amide compounds brought him at once into the first rank among the chemists of the nineteenth century.

In 1829 he founded the Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures with Péclet, Lavallié, and Olivier. Brilliant lecture courses in the Sorbonne won him further renown. He replaced Thénard as professor at the Ecole Polytechnique, was professor at the Sorbonne and dean of the faculty of sciences. Originally a very poor speaker, by practice and study he acquired elocutionary powers that brought him great celebrity. Dumas also became professor at the Ecole de Médecine, a position he resigned in favour of Wurtz, one of his most distinguished pupils. His scholars included such illustrious men as H. Sainte-Claire Deville, Wurtz, Debray, Pasteur, and others. Turning his attention to politics, Dumas was elected a deputy from the department of Nord in 1849; among the proposed laws in which he was interested were various ones treating the recoining of money, stamped paper, forgery of public acts, taxes on salt, sugar, etc. In 1851 he was appointed minister of agriculture and commerce by Louis Napoléon, and after the coup d'etat was made senator. From 1832 he was a member of the Institute, being elected to the Academy of Sciences, and in 1868 he was made a perpetual secretary; in 1878 he became a member of the French Academy. In 1858-59 he carried on an animated controversy as to the nature of the elements with Despretz; in the course of the discussion Dumas' energetic methods in attacking his opponent's views excited some criticism. His abandonment of chemical research for politics was considered a misfortune by the scientific world, as he ceased his brilliant investigations when in the very prime of his powers.

Dumas was a consistent Catholic, and remained true to his faith all his life. When it was necessary, he never hesitated to defend Christianity against the attacks of materialism. Examples of his views in this regard may be found in his various addresses, as: his address on Bérard; his commemorative address on Farady, and the speech in which he extended the greetings of the Academy to the historian Taine. The Count d'Haussonville, at the funeral of Dumas, gave eloquent testimony to the latter's religious belief. Dumas was a prolific writer. Among his works may be mentioned: "Traité de chimie appliquée aux arts" (8 vols., 1828-45); "Précis de chimie physiologique et médicale"; "Leçons sur la philosophie chimique" (1837); "Essai de statique chimique des êtres organsés" (1841), the last work written in collaboration with Boussingault. Besides the publications just mentioned there were numerous papers in scientific journals and in the transactions of the Academy of Sciences. A list of his papers was published in the "Catalogue of Scientific Papers of Royal Society, London".

MAINDRON, L'OEuvre de Jean-Baptiste Dumas (1886); Dictionnaire Larousse, s. v.

References

  1. Back to citation Asimov, Isaac (1982). "825. Demarçay, Eugène Anatole". Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology (2nd revised ed.). New York etc.: Doubleday. pp. 532-533. ISBN 9780385177719. OCLC 421632468.
  2. Back to citation Benninga, H. (30 June 1990). A History of Lactic Acid Making: A Chapter in the History of Biotechnology. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 17. ISBN 978-0-7923-0625-2.
  3. Back to citation occurrence 3.0 Back to citation occurrence 3.1 Moran, Michael E. (30 October 2013). Urolithiasis: A Comprehensive History. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 111. ISBN 978-1-4614-8196-6.
  4. Back to citation "J. B. A. Dumas (1800–1884)". Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  5. Back to citation "APS Member History". search.amphilsoc.org. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
  6. Back to citation "Jean-Baptiste Dumas". Catholic Encyclopedia. Retrieved 17 February 2007.
  7. Back to citation Nieto-Galan, Agusti (10 March 2016). Science in the Public Sphere: A history of lay knowledge and expertise. Routledge. p. 163. ISBN 978-1-317-27792-7.
  8. Back to citation Proteins, Enzymes, Genes: The Interplay of Chemistry and Biology. Yale University Press. p. 238. ISBN 978-0-300-15359-0.
  9. Back to citation occurrence 9.0 Back to citation occurrence 9.1 Back to citation occurrence 9.2 Back to citation occurrence 9.3 Back to citation occurrence 9.4 Nye, Mary (1996). Before Big Science: The Pursuit of Modern Chemistry and Physics 1800-1940. Twayne Publishers. pp. 122–124.
  10. Back to citation Weeks, Mary Elvira (1956). The discovery of the elements (6th ed.). Easton, PA: Journal of Chemical Education.
  11. Back to citation Ihde, Aaron (1964). The Development of Modern Chemistry. Harper & Row. p. 182.
  12. Back to citation Dumas (1840). "Trichloroacetic acid". Annalen der Chemie. XXXII: 101.
  13. Back to citation Levere, Trevor H. (1994). Chemist and Chemistry in Nature and Society 1770-1878. Aldershot, Hampshire, Great Britain: Variorum. pp. XVII 113–116.
  14. Back to citation Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 16 March 2016.

Further reading

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