Biography and Works of Henry Louis Le Chatelier

While researching the greatest chemists that have ever lived, I could not help but notice one who was missing from the list. Boyle, Mendeleev, and Lavoisier were on everyone’s list; and rightfully so, but I believe that people overlook the outstanding work of Henry Louis Le Chatelier. Le Chatelier studied chemistry extensively in school and made great discoveries as a teacher of the science at colleges in France. He is most known for the principle named after him: Le Chatelier’s Principle, which I will go into detail with later in the paper. My goal in this paper is to bring to light the significance of Le Chatelier’s life and his work in the field of chemistry and science.

To achieve this goal I have organized my paper into four sections. The first will detail Le Chatelier’s childhood and personal life so that who can understand what shaped him into the man he became and his goals in life. The second section will feature his career and scientific work. The third section will describe Le Chatelier’s principle which used by chemists to predict the effect a changing condition has on a system in chemical equilibrium. To finish, the last section will inform you of his later years and the decorations he received. The final page of my paper will be a works cited page and I will also include in-text citations to cite you to the works I have used.

Childhood and Personal Life

Le Chatelier was born on October 8, 1850 in Paris to his parents Louis Le Chatelier and Louise Durand. His mother was in charge of raising the children and his father was a French engineer who was an important figure to the start of the French aluminum industry. He also introduced the Martin-Siemens processes into the iron and steel industries, and played an import...

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...ell as many awards at International Expositions. He died at his country estate, Miribel-les-Echelles, in Isere, France on September 17, 1936 (Lette).

Conclusion

Le Chateliers discoveries were and are still essential to understanding key principles in chemistry. He invented instruments and tools to measure high temperatures and his studies in the areas explosive materials made it safer for minors to work. He his most remembered for his own principle dealing with equilibrium. In essence this principle says a reaction in an equilibrium state will compensate for changes in the system by counteracting the change to restore equilibrium. It helps chemists predict how changing the concentration, pressure, volume or temperature will affect their reactions. Le Chatelier’s work is impressive and he should always be remembered as one of the greatest chemists who has ever lived.