Marie Adolphe Carnot

Marie Adolphe Carnot ( born January 27, 1839 in Paris, † June 20, 1920 ) was a French chemist, mining engineer and politician. He came from a distinguished family: his father, Hippolyte Carnot, and his brother, Marie François Sadi Carnot, were politicians, Marie François was President of the Third French Republic.

Life

Marie Adolphe Carnot was born in Paris and was a graduate of the École Polytechnique in 1860. After graduation, he went after a period as an engineer in Limoges at the École des Mines, where he was appointed in 1868 professor. Since 1881 he has been chief mining engineer, and from 1894 to General Mine Inspector. In 1901 he was dean of the School of Mines, which he headed until 1907. Apart from the administrative work and the training of many engineers, he also wrote a treatise on the chemical analysis of minerals ( Traité d'analyze the substances minérales, 1898) and researched. He discovered bismuth minerals in the department of Corrèze, in the Limousin region. He was also one of the first customized the maps of the soil for agriculture. He also conducted research on the determination of fluorine in phosphates and analyzed mineral waters.

In 1899, the two French mining engineers Charles Friedel and Edouard Cumenge discovered in the Rajah Mine in Colorado uranium containing a radioactive mineral that Carnot analyzed first, and later the honor was therefore his name carnotite. He was honored for this discovery with membership in the Academy of Agriculture and the French Académie des sciences, and became commander of the Legion of Honour. At the same time he pursued a political career. In 1898 he was a member of the Conseil Général de la Charente. Meanwhile, he became Chairman from 1902 to 1908 as chairman of the Alliance Démocratique.