Sabatier, Paul

Sabatier, Paul (1854-1941), French chemist and Nobel laureate, known for his pioneering discoveries in the use of catalysts to enhance chemical reactions. He was born in Carcassone, and educated at the École Normale Supérieure and the Collège de France. He found that increasing the surface area of catalysts such as copper and nickel by finely dividing them greatly increases their effectiveness. In 1897 he and the French chemist Jean-Baptiste Senderens developed the process of catalytic hydrogenation of oils, which became important in industry. Sabatier shared the 1912 Nobel Prize for Chemistry with the French chemist Victor Grignard.