[bjhansolo]

OK, so here is my problem.
I have spent all day writing up an assignment for my Organic Chemistry unit on a named organic reaction (I chose the Henry Reaction)-Mechanism, Modern uses, Limitations, Variations etc. All was going smoothly until I came to the section "Small biography on the individual who discovered the reaction (maybe a photo)" This guy/girl (probably guy given the publication date of 1895) doesn't seem to exist! So many people have cited the paper and talked about how useful it has become, yet I can't find the original paper or anything on "Henry LCR" Please help? 

[bjhansolo]

For anyone interested, I eventually found him. Belgian professor of chemistry at Louvine. This means I got to try and read French . Was pretty rewarding when I got him though. Slippery sucker.

[billnotgatez]

could you tell us what the LCR was for his name
and do you know his birth and death day

[Arctic-Nation]

His name was Louis Henri (1834-1915), professor at the Catholic University of Leuven (or Louvain, if you so desire). The CR stands for Comptes Rendus, the journal his paper was published in.

Apart from his scientific work, he also was the driving force behind the creation of an independent Faculty of Science at the KULeuven. I can't find much on him for the rest (which is limited to rather quick googling), and a lot of sources are in French (if you're lucky) or Dutch (if you're unlucky). I'd be happy to translate from Dutch if necessary, though.

[bjhansolo]

That's more or less what I found on him, and yes I felt stupid when I realised that CR was for Compte Rendus. I actually ended up finding a google books scan of the original journal article in French and went from there. The other important thing he did according to an article on the history of analytical chemistry in Belgium was to push for the inclusion of teaching laboratorys for students attending universities throughout Belgium. Where this fits in the history of teaching labs for the world in general I do not know, it may be that Belgium was one of the first countries to introduce the concept.