Nicolas-Théodore de Saussure

Nicolas-Théodore de Saussure (14 October 1767 - 18 April 1845) was a Switzerland chemist and student of plant physiology who made seminal advances in phytochemistry.

The eldest son of Horace-Bénédict de Saussure, he was born at Geneva. He lived quietly and avoided society; yet like his ancestors be was a member of tht Genevan representative council, and gave much attention to public affairs. In the latter part of his life he became more of a recluse than ever, and died in the city of his birth.

When a young man Nicolas-Théodore accompanied his father in his Alpine journeys and assisted him by the careful determination of many physical constants. He was attracted to chemistry by Lavoisier's brilliant conceptions, but he did not become great as an originator. He took a leading share in improving the processes of ultimate organic analysis; and he determined the composition of ethanol, ether and some other commonly occurring substances. He also studied fermentation, the conversion of starch into sugar, and many other processes of minor importance. The greater number of his 36 published papers dealt with the chemistry and physiology of plants, the nature of soils, and the conditions of vegetable life, and were republished under the title Recherches chimiques sur la vegetation.