Norbert Rillieux, a pioneering chemical engineer, inventor, and Egyptologist, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. A child of Creole heritage and the son of an inventor, Rillieux was educated in Paris, where he became an instructor at L’École Centrale at just 24 years old. He is best known for inventing the multiple-effect evaporator, a groundbreaking system that revolutionized the sugar refining industry by making it safer, more efficient, and less labor-intensive. His invention later found applications in other industries such as soap and paper. Rillieux is widely recognized as one of the earliest chemical engineers in history and a hidden genius of industrial science.
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