Abstract

Jean Baptiste Dumas, an outstanding research chemist and teacher, laid the foundations of the science of organic chemistry. While doing so, he gathered around him some thirty students who participated in his research programmes and for the most part worked in his laboratory, thus forming a laboratory-based research school of chemists. Several of these in their turn influenced the development of the science. In Part I the social and institutional aspects of the school were considered. The discussion in Part II centres on student participation in Dumas's five programmes of research, arguably the most important determinant of membership in his school. As a general conclusion to the article, an assessment is made of the relationship between Dumas and his students