Paul Schützenberger was a French chemist. He was born in Strasbourg, where his father Georges Frédéric Schützenberger was professor of law, and his uncle Charles Schützenberger professor of chemical medicine.
He was intended for a medical career and graduated MD from the University of Strasbourg in 1855, but his interests laid in physical and chemical sciences. In 1853 he went to Paris as preparateur to JF Persoz, professor of chemistry at the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers. A year later he was entrusted with a course of chemical instruction at Mulhouse, and he remained in that town until 1865 as professor at the École Supérieure des Sciences.
He then returned to Paris as assistant to AJ Balard at the College de France, in 1876 he succeeded him in the chair of chemistry, and in 1882 he became directing professor at the municipal École de Physique et de Chimie. The two latter chairs he held together until his death, which happened at Mézy, Seine et Oise.