A noted French physicist, born at Aix-la-Chapelle; from being a Paris shopman he rose to a professorship in Lyons; important discoveries in organic chemistry won him election to the Academy of Sciences in 1840; lectured in the "Collège de France and the École Polytechnique;" became director of the imperial porcelain manufactory of Sèvres; did notable work in physics and chemistry, and was awarded medals by the Royal Society of London (1810-1878).