Claude-Louis Berthollet

Lavoisier, Fourcroy, Guyton de Morveau and Berthollet together established the modern naming-system for chemical compounds. With Laplace he founded the influential Société d’Arcueil; members included Gay-Lussac and Humboldt, Humboldt naming the brazil-nut tree (Bertholletia excelsa) after his friend. Berthollet and Monge, old friends, were sent to Italy to ship paintings and sculptures to France, and jointly ran Napoleon’s Institut d’Egypte. Watt was a close acqaintance and great correspondent, and Berzelius exchanged letters about the presence of fluoride in water. Thénard was one of his students.