In thermochemistry, Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749-1827) was a French mathematician, physicist, and astronomer notable for having built the first ice calorimeter with Antoine Lavoisier in 1782, with which they made measurements of heat released or absorbed during various chemical reactions and processes, according to which he is one of the founders of thermochemistry. [1] The following 1868 view of French physicist Gustave Hirn, from his Philosophical Implications of Thermodynamics, captures Laplace’s place in the development of thermochemistry: [2]

“Among the chemical reactions that can develop heat in the living being, the most important, one that predominates all others, is that resulting from the absorption of oxygen from the air and its combination with the elements fuel supplied by food. Breathing, in short, is the main cause, if not unique, the production of vital heat. This was established beyond doubt, first, in the experiments of Lavoisier, Laplace, and then those of Dulong and Regnault, on animals of different species, and then finally my experiments on humans.”

Laplace is also eponym of Laplace’s demon, which is similar to Maxwell’s demon. Laplace is said to have an IQ = 190. Laplace’s work on the mathematics of force is said to have been precursor to the later development of the concept of potential.

References
1. Partington, J.R. (1957). A Short History of Chemistry. MacMillan and Co.
2. Hirn, Gustave. (1868). Philosophical Implications of Thermodynamics (Métaphysique et conséquences philosophiques de la thermodynamique: l'analyse fondamentale de l'univers) (Metaphysics and Philosophical Implications of Thermodynamics: Basic Analysis of the Universe). Paris: Gauthier-Villars.

External links
● Pierre-Simon Laplace – Wikipedia.
● Pierre Laplace - Eric Weisstein’s World of Scientific Biography.