Berthollet, Claude Louis

Name:
Berthollet, Claude Louis
Detailed information:
(1748–1822). A French chemist. Followed Lavoisier, but did not accept the latter's contention that oxygen is the characteristic constituent of acids. He was the first to propose chlorine as a bleaching agent. His essay on chemical physics (1803) was the first attempt to explain this subject. His speculations on stoichiometry, especially as regards relative masses of reacting atoms, profoundly affected later theories of chemical affinity.