Émile Duclaux (June 24, 1840 – February 5, 1904) was a French microbiologist and chemist who was born in Aurillac, Cantal.
He studied at the College of Aurillac, the Lycée Saint-Louis in Paris and at École Normale Supérieure. In 1862 he was an assistant in the laboratory of Louis Pasteur. During his career he taught classes in Tours (1865), Clermont-Ferrand (1866), Lyon (from 1873) and Paris (from 1878). In Paris he was a professor of meteorology at the Institute of Agronomy. In 1888 he was elected to the Académie des sciences, and in 1894 became a member of the Académie Nationale de Médecine. For much of his career he was associated with the work of Louis Pasteur.
Duclaux's work was largely in the fields of chemistry, bacteriology, hygiene and agriculture.[1] With Pasteur he collaborated in the study of silkworm diseases, and also took part in experiments to debunk the theory of spontaneous generation. In the 1870s he undertook studies of phylloxera; an aphid-like pest that plagued grape vineyards. In addition, he performed research on the composition of milk, and conducted studies on beer and wine.
In 1887 he began publication of the Annales de l'Institut Pasteur, with Charles Chamberland, Jacques-Joseph Grancher, Edmond Nocard and Pierre Paul Émile Roux as members of the first editorial board. After Pasteur's death, Duclaux was director of the Institute from 1895 until 1904, with Roux and Chamberland serving as sub-directors.
Duclaux was a prolific writer, some of his better known publications were "Traité de microbiologie", "L'hygiène sociale", "Ferments et maladies" and "Pasteur, histoire d'un esprit", which was a biography dedicated to Pasteur. Duclaux was also actively involved in French politics and was a vocal supporter of Alfred Dreyfus, who was unjustly accused of treason. Duclaux's second wife Agnes Mary Frances Duclaux (maiden name Agnes Mary Frances Robinson) was a well-known author, and his son Jacques Eugène Duclaux was a highly regarded chemist.