Jean-Charles Delvaux de Fenffe
With Jean-Michel Vanderheyden, Jean-Charles Delvaux de Fenffe was called upon to teach at the Faculty of Science when the University was founded in 1817. He taught physics, chemistry and metallurgy. He was Rector for the academic year 1832-1833.
Born in Rochefort, Jean-Charles Delvaux de Fenffe (1782-1863) studied medicine in Paris, before returning home to practice his art under his father. He arrived in Liège in 1809, and the following year was put in charge of teaching physics at the Lycée impérial, which became a Gymnase in 1814. From 1811 onwards, he taught at the Faculty of Sciences, the only one in Liège at the time (Liège was the capital of the Academy for four departments), and in 1812 received the degree of Doctor of Science.
In 1817, he was naturally asked to teach physics, general chemistry applied to the arts and metallurgy at the University of Liège. After serving as rector in 1832-1833, Delvaux's chair of general and applied chemistry was maintained following the reorganization of courses in 1835. He was granted emeritus status in 1837, without abandoning his research or his work as a physician.
As such, he was elected a full member of the Académie royale de médecine in 1841. In Liège, he was one of the founders of the Société des Sciences Naturelles and the Société Royale des Sciences. He collaborated on research by statistician Courtois,André Dumont on the geological constitution of the province of Liège and Toussaint-Dieudonné Sauveur on the waters of Spa. Among other things, he was responsible for determining the composition of a mineral species to which Dumont gave his name: delvauxine.
Illustration: Joseph Schubert, after Barthélemy Vieillevoye, À Monsieur J.C.P.J. Delvaux, Professor Emeritus at the université de Liège, lithograph, 1853, Musée Wittert ULiège, inv. 2895.
