Chaptal

This is a picture of Jean-Antoine Chaptal, who first developed the idea of adding sugar to the grape juice before fermentation, to boost the alcohol level of the resulting wine. The process is named chaptalization after him. Son of an apothecary, he studied chemistry at the University of Montpellier, briefly teaching chemistry at the university's medical school before going into the manufacture of various acids and chemicals. When he was Interior Minister, he reorganized hospitals and introduced the metric system amongst various notable achievements. His numerous honours and achievements also included the naming of nitrogen as well as being one of the 72 names inscribed on the Eiffel Tower.