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A Brief Biography of Henri Louis Le Chatelier

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Henri Louis Le Chatelier (i) Henri Louis Le Chatelier was a world renowned chemist known primarily for his work in developing “Le Chatelier’s Principle”. Henri was born to an academic bourgeoisie family on October 8th, 1850, in Paris France (1). Le Chatelier was fortunate as his father, Louis Le Chatelier, was able to teach him the basics of math and science, thus giving him a head start, and due to his parent’s status and wealth he was able to study at several universities (2). Le Chatelier’s earned his first degree from the College Rollin in 1867 and another in 1868 (2). He then went on to attend l’École Polytechnique after which he was named second lieutenant with the rest of his class (3). Before continuing his education he briefly served in the French army during the Franco-Prussian war and fought in the siege of Paris (3). After the war he studied at l’École des Mines in Paris earning a degree in mining engineering in 1873 (2). Le Chatelier spent the next few years working as an engineering miner throughout France but he switched careers and became a lecturer in 1877 after being offered a position to teach chemistry at l’École des Mines (2). The year before Le Chatelier married Genevieve Nicolas who bore him three boys and four girls (2). There Le Chatelier studied the chemistry of cement, plaster and various alloys becoming an expert in these fields and uncovering that when cement mixes with water a super saturated solution is formed which in its solidification forms

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