Comte Claude Louis BertholletDied 6 Nov 1822 at age 73 (born 9 Dec 1748).French chemist who was the first to note that the completeness of chemical reactions depends in part upon the masses of the reacting substances (1803); he thus came close to formulating the law of mass action. Though he incorrectly concluded that elements unite in all proportions, his resulting controversy with the chemist Joseph-Louis Proust led to the establishment of the law of definite proportions. He continued Carl Scheele's research on chlorine, showing in 1785 how it could be used for bleaching. He continued Joseph Priestley's investigation of ammonia, and was the first to show it was a compound of hydrogen and nitrogen. He discovered potassium chlorate. |
