François Marie Raoult

Born May 10, 1830, in Fournes-en-Veppes, department of Nord; died Apr. 1, 1901, in Grenoble. French chemist and physicist. Corresponding member of the Académie des Sciences in Paris (1890).

Beginning in 1867, Raoult worked at the University of Grenoble, where he became a professor in 1870. He was a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1899). In the period 1882–88, while investigating the freezing-point and vapor-pressure lowerings and elevation of the boiling point of a solvent in a solution, Raoult discovered what came to be known as Raoult’s laws. These laws are used to determine the molecular weights of substances in the dissolved state.