"Norbert Rillieux" [March 17,1806-October 8,1894]

Was born into a prominent Creole family in New Orleans Louisiana.He was the son of Vincent Rillieux,a white plantation owner,engineer and inventor,and his place,Constance Vivant,a free person of color.Norbert was the oldest of seven children.His siblings were:Barthelemy,Edmond,MarieEugenie,Louis,Marie Elosie,& Cecile Virginie.His aunt on his father's side,Marie Celeste Rillieux ,was the grandmother of painter Edgar Degas.His aunt on his mama side,Eulalie Vivant,was the mama of Bernard Soulie,one of the wealthiest Gen de Couleur Libre in Louisiana.As a Creole Norbert had access to education and privileges not available to lower-status free African Americans or slaves.Baptized Roman Catholic,he received his early education in private Catholic schools in Louisiana before traveling to Paris,France,in the early 1820s attend a famous Parisian engineering school,the Ecole Centrale.While there,Norbert studied physics,mechanics,and engineering.He became an expert in steam engines and published several papers about the use of steam t work devices.These early explorations became the foundations of the technology Norbert would later implement in his evaporator.At 24,he became the youngest teacher at Ecole Centrale,instructing  in applied mechanics.He was also a competent blacksmith,an expert machinist and fluent in French.He published a series of papers related to "the Functions and Economic implicationsof the Steam Engine." In 1834,Norbert returned home to his daddy's plantation which was now also being used to process and refine sugar.Sugarcane had become the dominant crop within Louisiana,the sugar refining process employed at that time was extremely dangerous and very inefficient.Known as the "Jamaica Train,"the process called for sugarcane to be boiled in huge open kettles and then strained to allow the juice to be separated from the cane.The juice was then evaporated by boiling it at extreme temperatures,resulting in granules being left over in the form of sugar.The danger stemmed from the fact that workers were forced to transport the boiling juice from one kettle to another,chancing the possibility of suffering severe burns.It was also a very costly process considering the large amount of fuel needed to heat the various kettles.During the 1830s,France witnessed the introduction of the steam-operated single pan vacuum.The vacuum pan was enclosed in an area with the air removed (this was necessary because liquids can boil at a lower temperature in the absence of air than with air present,costing less).Norbert decided to improve greatly on this efficiency a second and later a third,pan with each getting heating by its predecessor.By 1833,Norbert was approached by a New Orleans sugar manufacturer named Edmund Forstall.Because numerous sugar producers had received complaints about product quality,Edmund persuaded Norbert to become the Chief Engineer of the Louisiana Sugar Refinery.Unfortunately,almost soon as Norbert took the job an intense feud developed between Edmund and his daddy,Vincent Rillieux.Out of loyalty to his daddy,Norbert left his position with the company.A few years later,Norbert was hired by Theodore Packwood to improve his Myrtle Grove Plantation refinery.In doing so he employed his triple evaporation pan system which he patented in 1843.It was an enormous success and revolutionized the sugar refining industry improving efficiency,quality and safety.In the 1850s,New Orleans was suffering from and outbreak of Yellow Fever,caused by disease-carrying mosquitoes.Norbert devised an elaborate plan for eliminating the outbreak by draining the swamplands  surrounding the city and improving the existing sewer system,removing the breeding for the insects and therefore the ability for them to pass on the disease.Unfortunately,Edmund Norbert's former employer was a number of the state legislature and spoke out against the plan.Edmund was able to turn sentiment against Norbert and the plan was rejected.Disgusted with the racism prevalent in the south as well as the frustration of local politics Norbert eventually left New Orleans and moved back to France (ironically,after a number of years which time the Yellow Fever continued to devastate New Orleans,the state legislature was forced to implement an almost identical plan introduced by white engineers.After returning to France,Norbert spent much of his time creating new inventions and defending his patents as well as traveling abroad.