Background
Claude Geoffroy was born on August 8, 1685, in Paris, France. He was the second son of Matthieu François Geoffroy and Louise de Vaux, and the brother of Étienne Francois Geoffroy.
Botanist chemist pharmacist scientist
Claude Geoffroy was born on August 8, 1685, in Paris, France. He was the second son of Matthieu François Geoffroy and Louise de Vaux, and the brother of Étienne Francois Geoffroy.
Claude studied botany under Joseph Pitton de Tournefort. He qualified as an apothecary in 1703.
Geoffroy took over the family pharmacy on his father’s death in 1707. From 1718 to 1720 he was Garde des marchands-apothicaires in Paris, then later served as inspecteur de pharmacie at the Hôtel-Dieu. In 1731 he attained the title of alderman in Paris. From 1708 to 1751, he published numerous articles in the Histoire et Mémoires de l'Académie royale des sciences.
In 1707 Geoffroy, who had studied botany under J. P. de Tournefort and made a long field excursion in the south of France in 1704-1705, was elected to the Académie des Sciences as a botanist. He was already interested in chemistry and in his first research tried to find a chemical explanation of the colors of plants. He discovered that the oil obtained by macerating and distilling thyme reacted with vinegar, potash, and other substances of vegetable origin to form colors similar to those in flowers and leaves and this supported the belief that plants consisted of a limited number of principles combined in different ways and obtainable by simple processes such as distillation and fermentation.
After publishing a few botanical papers, Geoffroy transferred to the chemical section of the Academy in 1715. Much of his subsequent research arose from his pharmaceutical work, a good example being his discovery that sedative salt, a medicament normally prepared in small quantities by subliming a mixture of borax and iron vitriol, could be made on a larger scale by treating borax with diluted oil of vitriol and crystallizing it. This research was important in the development of theoretical as well as practical chemistry for Geoffroy demonstrated the presence of a common constituent in borax, soda, and common salt, all of which yielded Glauber’s salt (sodium sulfate) on treatment with sulfuric acid.
Geoffroy was a member of the Académie Royale des Sciences.