Professor of chemistry at the École Polytechnique (1913-1937), he began as a chemistry preparer for Professor Grimaux, with whom he took sides with Dreyfus. In 1897, he became director of the scientific laboratory of the firm L.T. Piver renowned for its perfumes. Passionate about the automobile, he designed and produced some prototypes. He studied medicine, external to Paris hospitals in 1890, doctor of medicine in 1899, and passed the aggregation of physics in 1895. During the war of 1914-1918, he developed new processes for the manufacture of explosives . His major contribution in chemistry is the reaction that bears his name. He founded the Society of Dyestuffs in Saint-Clair du Rhône