Louis-Joseph Proust (1754-1826) était-il pharmacien ?

Résumé En Fr

Was Louis-Joseph Proust (1754-1826) a pharmacist ? Proust's first formulation of the law of definite proportions was published in a paper on iron oxides (1794). He spent the major part of his professional life in Spain, where he contracted to take a teaching and searching position. He was apprenticed to his father to study pharmacy, and he studied chemistry with Hilaire-Marin Rouelle. His early interrupted education is shown through his abilities as an analyst, the persons with whom he was in communication, his share in manufacturers 'assays and his researches towards health and food chemistry. More fundamental was his behef in natural principles of order as representative of the thought of the idéologues.

On doit à Proust la loi des proportions définies. La partie productive de sa vie professionnelle s'est passée en Espagne. Il avait reçu avant son départ une formation d'apothicaire, inachevée, qui transparaît dans son activité d'analyste, ses relations, son souci d'applications et dans son intérêt pour des recherches destinées à améliorer la santé et à développer de nouvelles ressources alimentaires. Homme de raison et de conviction, il appartient à la génération des penseurs et savants idéologues en quête de lois naturelles.