Auguste Victor Louis Verneuil

Auguste Victor Louis Verneuil ( born November 3, 1856 in Dunkirk, Nord, † April 27, 1913 ) was a French chemist who became famous for the invention of a commercial process for the production of synthetic gemstones. In 1902 he invented the flame fusion process, which is known as the Verneuil process today. The process is still used for the production of corundum or rubies.

Biography

Verneuil was born in Dunkirk in 1856, the son of a watchmaker. At age 17, he became assistant to the chemist Edmond Frémy, where he received his doctorate in 1886. In 1892 he became Professor of Applied and Organic Chemistry at the Natural History Museum in Paris, where he worked for 13 years. He dealt with the production of synthetic rubies, the chemistry of selenium, the phosphorescence of sphalerite, the chemistry of the rare earth metals and the production of glasses with high refractive index.

Verneuil began his work on the production of synthetic rubies already in 1886 and achieved acceptable results within six years. His records he sealed and deposited it at the Paris Academy of Sciences in 1891 and 1892. Nevertheless, the results of the work he published until 1902.