Brandy, Balloons and Lamps

This is a biography of the Genevese scientist who literally turned on the lights at the beginning of the Enlightenment to illuminate the Industrial Revolution. Featuring 53 colour plates and 106 black-and-white illustrations, the author provides a record of how Argand advanced Western civilization. Among his many inventions, Ami Argand developed such a superior method of distillation that Louis XVI named him superintendent of the distilleries of France. With the Montgolfier brothers, he launched the world's first hot-air balloon. And dwarfing his other accomplishments, he revolutionized lighting for everyone.