Eleuthére Irnee Dupont survived the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror to immigrate to America in 1800. As an industrialist with chemical experience, he applied to his business enterprise the exacting standards found in science and created a company that is still successful almost 200 years later. The company today is diversified with many products ranging from industrial anticorrosion solutions to synthetic fibers. However, it all began with Irnee Dupont and his one product, gunpowder.

Dupont came from a distinguished family in France. His grandfather was a royal financier for Louis XVI. His brother was a diplomat and counted Thomas Jefferson among his friends. His father was a political economist and had many distinguished academics as friends. One of these friends was the French chemistry researcher Lavoisier.

Irnee was born in 1771 and grew up on his father's estate. He was tutored at home, but did not show...