The stamp of Proust: the laboratory of chemistry of.the natural history museum

Abstract

The results of the teaching activities of Louis Joseph Proust (1754-1826) in Spain have been the object for almost a century of strong controversies within the framework of the discussions raised over the situation of the Spanish Science in general, and against the background of the different assessments made on the subject by the diverse ideologies that characterized the period of the Spanish Enlightenment. The present work ponders over the current state of this question and analyzes Proust's influence on Spanish chemistry during the nineteenth century as well as on the material continuity of his laboratory life in different teaching and educational centres until the actual creation of the chair of Chemistry at the Central University.