Life
Joseph L. Proust was born on September 26, 1754 in Angers, France. His father served as an apothecary in Angers. Joseph studied chemistry in his father’s shop and later came to Paris where he gained the appointment of apothecary in chief to the Salpetriere . He also taught chemistry with Pilâtre de Rozier, a famous aeronaut.
Under Carlos IV's influence Proust went to Spain. There he taught at the Chemistry School in Segovia and at the University of Salamanca. But when Napoleon invaded Spain, they burned Proust's laboratory and forced him back to France. On July 5 1826 he died in Angers, France.The mineral proustite (Ag3AsS3) is named in his honour.
Proust's best known work was derived from a controversy with C.L. Berthollet. Berthollet did not believe that substances always combine in constant and definite proportions as Proust did. Proust eventually was able to prove Berthollet wrong in 1799 and published his own hypothesis.
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“Truth is the kind of error without which a certain species of life could not live. The value for life is ultimately decisive.”
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“His speech is a burning fire;
With his lips he travaileth;
In his heart is a blind desire,
In his eyes foreknowledge of death:
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Sows, and he shall not reap;
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