1755-1805

French chemist and inventor famous for developing an improved pencil in 1795, and whose manufacturing method was still the basis of the twentieth-century pencil industry. Nicolas Jacques Conte's pencils, which combined clay with graphite in variable proportions to adjust for hardness and darkness, replaced pure graphite pencils whose contents were in high demand due to a supply blockade. Conté had a special talent for inventions, lending his skills to improving Napoleon Bonaparte's military balloons and building the first engraving machine in 1803.