Marie Adolphe Carnot

Marie Adolphe Carnot (27 January 1839 – 20 June 1920) was a French chemist, mining engineer and politician. He came from a distinguished family: his father, Hippolyte Carnot, and brother, Marie François Sadi Carnot, were politicians, the latter becoming President of the third French Republic.

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He was born in Paris and graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique in 1860, going on to join the Ecole des Mines, where he became professor in 1868, following a spell as an engineer around Limoges. By 1881 he was Chief Engineer of Mines, and by 1894 Inspector General of Mines, becoming Dean of the Ecole Nationale des Mines in 1901, a post he held until 1907. Aside from administrative work and teaching and training many engineers, he also wrote a treatise on the chemical analysis of minerals (Traité d'analyse des substances minérales, published 1898) and pursued research, in 1899 discovering the eponymous uranium ore carnotite.

He was honoured with membership of the Academy of Agriculture and Academy of Sciences, and was made Commander of the Légion d'honneur. He simultaneously pursued a political career.