Claude Louis Berthollet was born in
Talloires, near
Annecy, then part of the
Duchy of Savoy, in 1749. He started his studies at Chambéry and then in Turin where he graduated in medicine. Berthollet's great new developments in works regarding chemistry made him, in a short period of time, an active participant of the Academy of Science in 1780. Berthollet, along with
Antoine Lavoisier and others, devised a chemical nomenclature, or a system of names, which serves as the basis of the modern system of naming chemical compounds. He also carried out research into
dyes and
bleaches, being first to introduce the use of
chlorine gas as a commercial bleach in 1785. He first produced a modern bleaching liquid in 1789 in his laboratory on the quay
Javel in Paris, France, by passing
chlorine gas through a solution of sodium carbonate. The resulting liquid, known as "
Eau de Javel" ("Javel water"), was a weak solution of sodium hypochlorite. Another strong chlorine oxidant and bleach which he investigated and was the first to produce,
potassium chlorate (KClO3), is known as ''Berthollet's Salt''. Berthollet first determined the elemental composition of the gas
ammonia, in 1785. Berthollet was one of the first chemists to recognize the characteristics of a
reverse reaction, and hence,
chemical equilibrium. Berthollet was engaged in a long-term battle with another French chemist,
Joseph Proust, on the validity of the
law of definite proportions. While Proust believed that chemical compounds are composed of a fixed ratio of their constituent elements irrespective of the methods of production, Berthollet believed that this ratio can change according to the ratio of the reactants initially taken. Although Proust proved his theory by accurate measurements, his theory was not immediately accepted partially due to Berthollet's authority. His law was finally accepted when
Berzelius confirmed it in 1811, but it was found later that Berthollet was not completely wrong because there exists a class of compounds that do not obey the law of definite proportions. These
non-stoichiometric compounds are also named
berthollides in his honor. Berthollet was one of several scientists who went with
Napoleon to Egypt and was a member of the physics and natural history section of the
Institut d'Égypte. ==Awards and honours==