EUGÈNE ANATOLE DEMARÇAY

Eugène Anatole Demarçay (1852-1904), a French chemist who discovered the element europium and identified the presence of radium in a radioactive mixture provided by Marie and Pierre Curie; synthesized a variety of organic compounds of titanium and of tin, among them, those resulting from the reaction of titanium chloride with a variety of esters of organic monoacids. He proved that the essence of chamomile was a mixture of several esters, mainly butyl and amyl valerate and angelate, and not a mixture of aldehydes. He studied the compounds of nitrogen and sulfur, among them the nitrogen sulfide chlorosulfates, and described their properties. Developed an apparatus for determining the spectrum of rare earths and radioactive elements based on the spark produced by an induction coil provided with a short and thick platinum wire, and used it to propose a method for their separation by fractionation. He also determined the presence of molybdenum and vanadium in vegetables, etc.