Charles Frédéric Gerhardt

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Charles Frédéric Gerhardt (August 21, 1816 - August 19, 1856) was a French chemist. He was born in Strasbourg and studied in Karlsruhe, Leipzig, Gießen, and Dresden. In 1838 he went to Paris, and in 1841 to Montpellier, where he became a titular professor for chemistry in 1844. After some quarrels with other established chemists of his time over some of his scientific publications he left Montpellier again in 1848 and lived in Paris, where he opened his own École de chimie pratique ("School for practical chemistry"). This school didn't flourish, though, and in 1855 he accepted a professorship in chemistry at the École Polytechnique in Strasbourg, where he died the following year.

He is known for his work on reforming the notation for chemical formulas (1843 - 1846). He also worked on acid anhydrides, and synthesized an albeit unstable and impure form of acetylsalicylic acid.