(Born: Issoudun, France, 1742; Died: St. Denis, France, 10 January 1806) French chemist.

French chimist which developed a process preparation of the sodium carbonate which bears its name.E N 1780, Nicolas Leblanc became surgeon on behalf of the duke of Orleans. It is in 1786, thanks to its work on the crystallization, which it became famous. In 1789, it discovered a method of preparation of the sodium carbonate (soda), and allowed the development of the mineral chemical industry. It opened in 1791, close to Saint-Denis, thanks to the financial support of the duke of Orleans, a factory using this new process. Ruined, it committed suicide in Saint-Denis, in 1806.Leblanc became interested in the large-scale manufacture of soda because of the offer of a prize. He developed a process for making soda ash (sodium carbonate) from common salt, making possible the large-scale manufacture of glass, soap, paper, and other chemicals. The factory he set up with others was confiscated during the French Revolution, and he later committed suicide.

Biographical references: DSB: 8, 113-4. • Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition. • ISIS, 1913-65: 2, 58. • Poggendorff: 1, col. 1397. • Schaedler, Biographisch Handwörterbuch, 1891: 67. • World Who's Who in Science: 1013.

1. French, 1802.
De La | Cristallotechnie, | Ou | Essai Sur Les Phénomènes | De La Cristallisation, | Et sur les moyens de conduire cette opération | pour en obtenir des cristaux complets, et | les modifications dont chacune des formes | est susceptible. | Par Nicolas Leblanc, | [...3 lines of titles and memberships...] | [rule] | Les Sciences physiques ont entre elles des | rapports immédiats, et les progrès de | l'une unfluent sur l'avancement des autres. | [rule] | [double rule] | An X - 1802.

8°: [4], x, 11-88 p., 3 plates.

Very scarce. Follows Haüy's system.

Bibliographical references: Leonard's Taschenbuch: 2 (1808), 355. • LKG. • NUC: 321, 631 [NL 0181215].

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