Fourcroy, Antoine Fran�ois, Comte de 1755-1809
French chemist

Born in Paris, he studied medicine, qualifying in 1780. He became professor at the Jardins des Plantes in 1784, and from 1786 onwards promulgated the revolutionary chemical theories of Antoine Lavoisier, both in the classroom and in print. He improved methods of analysing mineral waters, discovered the double salts of ammonia and magnesia, and studied the physiology of muscles. With Nicolas-Louis Vauquelin he discovered iridium and made extensive chemical investigations of animal organs and fluids, isolating urea in 1808. Before the Revolution he was one of the leaders of the scientific community and one of the founders of the influential journal Annales de chimie. He also helped Antoine Lavoisier, Marcellin Berthelot and Baron Louis Bernard Guyton de Morveau to develop a new system of chemical nomenclature. During the Revolution he was a member of the Committee of Public Instruction and the Committee of Public Safety, working to reorganize higher education and munitions manufacture, and helping to establish the Institute National des Sciences et des Arts. In 1802 Napoleon I appointed him director-general of public instruction and in 1808 made him a Count of the Empire.