1806-1894

American Inventor and Engineer

Norbert Rillieux is best known for helping to mechanize the process of sugar refining. He invented an evaporator that converted sugarcane juice into crystalline sugar. His evaporator worked more efficiently than previous methods and contributed to the availability of inexpensive sugar.

Rillieux was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1806. His mother was of mixed race, and his father was a white plantation owner. Rillieux showed a gift for learning, which became even more apparent when he attended college at l'Ecole Centrale in Paris, France. Rillieux earned a degree in engineering and, after graduation, became a teacher at his former school.

While in France, Rillieux became interested in making the process of sugar refining more efficient through the use of machinery. As a youth, he had observed the manual process of sugar refining on plantations in Louisiana. In this laborious and dangerous...