167.206.169.54: /* Life */

2025-09-09T18:05:36Z

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{{Short description|Spanish toxicologist and chemist (1787–1853)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Mathieu Orfila
| image = Mathieu Joseph Bonaventure Orfila.jpg
| image_size = 260px
| caption =
| birth_date = 24 April 1787
| birth_place = [[Mahón]], [[Menorca]],<br/>[[Kingdom of Spain]]
| death_date = 12 March 1853 (aged 65)
| death_place = [[Paris]], [[Île-de-France]],<br/>[[Second French Empire|French Empire]]
| residence =
| citizenship = [[Spain|Spanish]]
| nationality = [[Spain|Spanish]]
| field = [[Toxicology]] and [[chemistry]]
| work_institutions =
| alma_mater = [[University of Valencia]]<br/>[[University of Barcelona]]
| doctoral_advisor =
| doctoral_students =
| known_for = Founded [[toxicology]]
| author_abbrev_bot =
| author_abbrev_zoo =
| prizes =
| religion =
| footnotes =
| signature =
}}
'''Mathieu Joseph Bonaventure Orfila''' ([[Catalan language|Catalan]]: ''Mateu Josep Bonaventura Orfila i Rotger'') (24 April 1787 – 12 March 1853) was a Spanish [[toxicologist]] and [[chemist]], regarded as father of modern [[toxicology]].<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/visibleproofs/galleries/biographies/orfila.html|title=Visible Proofs: Forensic Views of the Body: Galleries: Biographies: Mathieu Joseph Bonaventure Orfila (1787–1853)|website=www.nlm.nih.gov}}</ref>

== Birth ==
Orfila was born in [[Minorca]] and went on to study medicine in [[Valencia]], [[Barcelona]], and finally [[Paris]].<ref name="auto"/> Orfilla was appointed as the royal physician to [[Louis XVIII]] in 1816.<ref name="auto"/> Orfilla became a professor of chemistry at the Athénée of Paris in 1817.<ref name="auto"/> In 1819 he received French citizenship, having been born a Spanish subject.<ref name="auto"/> In 1830 he was appointed as the dean of the faculty of medicine, and later removed in 1848 during the revolution.<ref name="auto"/> In 1851 he became the president of the Academy of Medicine.<ref name="auto"/>

== Role in forensic toxicology ==
If there is reason to believe that a murder or attempted murder may have been committed using poison, a [[forensic]] toxicologist pharmaceutical is often engaged to examine pieces of evidence such as corpses and food items for poison content. In Orfila's time the primary type of poison in use was [[arsenic]], but there were not any reliable ways of testing for its presence. Orfila created new techniques, refined existing techniques and described them in his first treatise, ''Traité des poisons'' (1813), greatly enhancing their accuracy.

In 1840, [[Marie Lafarge]] was tried for the murder of her husband. Although she had had access to arsenic, and arsenic had been found in the victim's food, none could be found in the corpse. Orfila was asked by the court to investigate. He discovered that the test used, the [[Marsh test]], had been performed incorrectly, and that there ''was'' in fact arsenic in the body; LaFarge was subsequently found guilty.

==References==
{{reflist}}

;General
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book
|author = J. R. Bertomeu-Sánchez, A. Nieto-Galan
|title = Chemistry, medicine and crime: Mateu J B Orfila (1787–1853) and his times
|publisher = Science History Publications
|year = 2006
|location = Sagamore Beach, MA
|pages = 311
|url = http://www.shpusa.com/books/chapters/Orfila.pdf
|isbn = 0-88135-275-6
|url-status = dead
|archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20060720170552/http://www.shpusa.com/books/chapters/Orfila.pdf
|archivedate = 2006-07-20
}}
{{refend}}

== External links ==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050217035249/http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/forensics/toxicology/3.html Forensic Toxicology, how it solves cases and the major cases it solved]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050325025757/http://www.bium.univ-paris5.fr/histmed/medica/orfila.htm Bibliothèque Interuniversitaire de Médecine de Paris]: Books, biography and studies on Orfila
* {{EB1911|wstitle=Orfila, Mathieu Joseph Bonaventure}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orfila, Matthieu Joseph Bonaventure}}

[[Category:1787 births]]
[[Category:1853 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Mahón]]
[[Category:19th-century French chemists]]
[[Category:19th-century Spanish chemists]]
[[Category:Knights of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:Burials at Montparnasse Cemetery]]

Mathieu Orfila - Revision history

167.206.169.54: /* Life */