Jean-Antoine Chaptal

Jean-Antoine Claude, comte Chaptal de Chanteloup (June 4, 1756 – July 30, 1832) is a French chemist and statesman.

He establishes chemical works for the manufacture of the mineral acids, soda and other substances.

In Élémens de Chymie (published 1790), he coins a new word for the gas then known as "azote" or "mephitic air."

Chaptal's word is nitrogène, which he names for nitre, the chemical that is needed for the production of nitric acid which had been found to contain the gas, and thus possibly (according to theory) to be the oxidized derivative of it.

Chaptal's new term for the gas then quickly passes into English as nitrogen.

Chaptal is especially a popularizer of science, attempting to apply to industry and agriculture the discoveries of chemistry.

In this way, he contributes largely to the development of modern industry.

The process of adding sugar to unfermented wine in order to increase the final alcohol level is known as chaptalization after him.

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