Michel Eugène Chevreul

Born in 1786, Chevreul started by pulling apart animal fats, a line of inquiry that revolutionized soap and candle manufacturing and led him to isolate margaric, stearic, and oleic acids. In doing so he became the first to define what a chemical compound actually was and to formally characterize organic compounds - work that makes him a founder of modern organic chemistry. He moved into medicine, demonstrating that diabetics excrete glucose in urine and isolating creatine. Then, as director of the Gobelins Manufactory in Paris, he turned to textile dyes; his resulting color theories provided the scientific backbone for Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painting. He lived to 102, became a gerontology pioneer, and earned a spot among the 72 names inscribed on the Eiffel Tower when it opened three months before his death in 1889.