Rewards of Industry — Louis-Jacques Thénard
In return for his advocacy for industry, Louis-Jacques Thénard earned immortality as an archvillain of French literature. Thénard was an accomplished chemist and a leader of the scientific community in Paris during the first half of the 19th century. Working often in collaboration with Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac, Thénard collaborated with Gay-Lussac to identify the elements boron, sodium, and potassium; he discovered hydrogen peroxide, and he studied fermentation, catalysis, and oxidation.
Thénard also contributed to the advance of industry in France. Thénard was a founding member of the Société d’Encouragement pour l’Industrie Nationale, and he served as its president from 1832 to 1845. The Société d’Encouragement was a private organization created to accelerate France’s entry into the second industrial revolution.
Promoting industrial growth and the economic benefits it promised were seen as an urgent national priority. Industrialization in France lagged behind rival England. Under Thénard’s leadership, the Société d’Encouragement, fostered innovation and technological development through research, education, exhibitions, and technology transfer.
Thénard received a number of awards in recognition of his accomplishments, including an appointment as a Peer of France. This brought Thénard into politics as a member of the Chamber of Peers. Here, he crossed paths, and swords, with Victor Hugo, France’s most influential writer.
Victor Hugo championed the cause of the working class. Along with its economic benefits, industrialization also brought jarring changes to France. Some changes were good; material progress generated wealth and social progress. But, change also brought disruption and personal hardship, often in connection with the harsh realities of industrial work and the rigors of working-class life in overcrowded, rapidly growing cities.
By the middle of the 19th century, the growing social problems arising from industrialization demanded the attention of the national government. This is where Thénard, the advocate for industry, came into conflict with Victor Hugo, advocate for the working class.
In 1847, legislation regulating child labor was on the agenda. Hugo opposed increasing the length of the working day for a 10-year-old child from 8 hours to 12 hours. Thénard was in favor of the measure.
Hugo was so incensed by this issue that he continued the debate beyond the halls of the Chamber of Peers. At that time, Hugo was working on the story that would become Les Misérables, the epic novel that is his masterpiece. So, he created a character that epitomizes the exploitation of children, the innkeeper named Thénardier.
Today, Les Misérables is one of the most well-known works of French literature. So, to the extent that Louis-Jacques Thénard is remembered at all, it is most likely in association with Victor Hugo’s archvillain.
Louis-Jacques Thénard is one of the 72 scientists and engineers named on the Eiffel Tower.
