Paul Thénard

Paul Thénard (1819 to 1884), also known as Baron Arnaud Paul Edmond Thénard, was a French agronomist, wine producer, chemist and politician, born in Paris. In 1842, the year of his marriage, he took charge of a vineyard at Talmay in the Côte-d'Or, still known as Domaine Baron Thénard. He was known for research on the control of phylloxera, treating infested vineyard soil with carbon disulfide, with only moderate success. In a laboratory in his wife's chateau he studied phosphorus compounds and discovered trimethylphosphine, the first organic phosphorus compound identified, and in 1868 was jointly credited with the pigment xylindein. He also set up a model farm at Talmay and worked with farmers to develop fertilisers for arable and livestock farming. He was admitted to the Académie des sciences in 1864, served as mayor of Talmay from 1852 to 1866, and wrote a biography of his father, the chemist Louis Thénard.