GAY-LUSSAC
1778-1850
LUIS JOSEPH GAY-LUSSAC, the brilliant chemist and physicist, was born at St Léonard-le-Noblat (Haute-Vienne), France, on 6th December 1778.
The same year (1793) that witnessed the execution of Louis XVI. and Marie Antoinette, Gay-Lussac came to Paris and entered the École Polytechnique. Although so young, it was his delight and ambition to be in Paris. "Paris," said Heinrich Heine, "is not simply the capital of France, but of the whole civilized world, and the rendezvous of its most brilliant intellects." Gay-Lussac studied for three years at the École Polytechnique, after which he was promoted to the Département des Ponts et Chaussées (a Government department including everything connected with the making and repairing of roads, bridges, canals, etc.). His next position was as an assistant to C. L. Berthollet—a celebrated chemist—and in 1801, a year after the terrible and decisive Battle of Marengo, Gay-Lussac published his first paper on "La Dilatation des Gaz et Vapeurs," which was
175
