author
Pierre Joseph Macquer
1718–1784
A key figure in 18th-century French chemistry, he helped organize the subject in ways that made it easier to teach, study, and apply. He is best remembered for a widely read chemical dictionary and for linking laboratory work with medicine and industry.
1 Audiobook
Elements of the Theory and Practice of Chymistry, 5th ed.
by Pierre Joseph Macquer
About the author
Born in Paris in 1718, Pierre-Joseph Macquer was a French chemist and physician who worked during a time when chemistry was becoming a more systematic science. He studied medicine, but much of his career centered on chemical research, teaching, and public scientific work.
Macquer became especially well known for Dictionnaire de chymie (1766), a major reference work that gathered and explained chemical knowledge for readers of his day. He also wrote influential textbooks on theoretical and practical chemistry, helping shape how the subject was taught in the late 18th century.
His interests went beyond theory. Macquer worked on practical problems connected to medicine and manufacturing, including dyeing and porcelain, and he was active in the French Academy of Sciences. He died in Paris in 1784, leaving behind a body of work that helped make chemistry more organized, readable, and useful.