Louis Melsens


Louis-Henri-Frédéric Melsens was a Belgian physicist and chemist. In 1846, he became professor of chemistry at the Royal Veterinary School of Cureghem in Anderlecht, Brussels. Melsens applied the principle of the Faraday cage to lightning conductors and invented iodine tincture for disinfection. The Louis Melsens Prize is awarded to a Belgian or naturalised Belgian author of the most remarkable work on applied chemistry or physics. The Melsensstraat or Rue Melsens in Brussels and the Louis Melsensstraat in Leuven are named after him.