DUMAS, JEAN-BAPTISTE-ANDR

born July 14, 1800, Alais, Fr. died April 10, 1884, Cannes French chemist who pioneered in organic chemistry, particularly organic analysis. Before Dumas was 21 he had done original work in biochemistry and embryology; in 1818, with Charles Coindet, he introduced the use of iodine in the treatment of goitre. In 1832 he became a professor at the University of Paris and the Collge de France. Dumas originated a combustion method for determining the nitrogen content of organic compounds (1830), isolated anthracene (1831), discovered the formula for camphor (1832), and showed that halogens could replace hydrogen in organic compounds (1834). With Eugne-Melchior Pligot he isolated methyl alcohol (1834) and established the alcoholic series (1836). With Justus von Liebig, Dumas showed that, in organic chemistry, groups of atoms can act in unison, remaining unchanged during chemical reactions that alter other parts of molecules containing the groups. He demonstrated atomic weights that differed from those of Jns Berzelius, whose theories came to be replaced by the ideas of Dumas, Liebig, Auguste Laurent, and Charles Gerhardt. Dumas became a member of the National Assembly in 1849 and was later a senator, president of the city council of Paris, and master of the French mint.