Georges Leclanché

Georges Leclanché (French pronunciation: ​[ʒɔʁʒ ləklɑ̃ʃe]; 1839 – September 14, 1882) was a French electrical engineer chiefly remembered for his invention of the Leclanché cell, one of the first modern electrical batteries and the forerunner of the modern dry cell battery.

Biography

Leclanché was born in 1839 in Parmain, France, the son of Léopold Leclanché and Eugenie of Villeneuve. He was educated in England and completed his education in the École centrale des arts et manufactures engineering school, graduating in 1860 to begin work as an engineer. Georges Leclanché died on September 14, 1882 in Paris around the age of 43.

Leclanché cell

In 1866 he invented the Leclanché cell, one of the first electrical batteries and the forerunner of the modern dry cell battery. It comprised a conducting solution (electrolyte) of ammonium chloride with a negative terminal of zinc and a positive terminal of manganese dioxide.

Leclanché's "wet cell" (as it was popularly called) was the forerunner to the world's first widely used battery, the Zinc-carbon battery.

Trivia

• Rue Georges Leclanché, a street in Paris, is named after him

References

• Mertens, Joost, 'The Theoretical Batteries of Georges Leclanché', Archives Internationales d'Histoire des Sciences 49, nr. 142 (June 1999), 75-102.