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Jacques-Joseph Ébelmen (July 10, 1814-March 31, 1852) was a French chemist. He was the son of Claude Louis Ébelmen, a forest surveyor, and Jeanne Claude Grenier. He attended classes in grammar and literature at the Language School at Baume. Thereafter he grew interested in the Sciences and attended the elementary mathematics classes in Paris at Collège Royal Henry-Le-Grand, and applied mathematics at the Lycée de Besançon. He then enrolled at the École Polytechnique in 1831.

In 1836 he was sent to Vesoul as a mining engineer, and began studying the different ores at Franche-Comté, where his reputation grew, growing artificial crystals of a number of minerals including corundum, chrysoberyl and peridot. He stayed there for four years, before committing himself in 1841 as assistant secretary of the Committee and a lecturer of Chemistry at École Polytechnique.

In December 1845 he became Chief Engineer of Mines at the Sèvres porcelain manufactory and worked on improved methods of manufacturing ceramics. He was also appointed professor of mineral assay at the Ecole des Mines and was made a Knight of the Legion of Honor by King Louis-Philippe in April 1847. He made many improvements regarding the manufacture of porcelain such as the change from coal to wood stoves, the development of the casting, which resulted in large parts, the renovation of the manufacture of bone china and vitreous enamel on metal.

In 1848, he got the chair of Ceramics at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers. In 1849, he was a member of the jury at the Central National Exhibition, and in 1851 he represented the French ceramic industry at the Great Exhibition in London, as a member of international jury.

Whilst in England, his innovations drew esteem from the greatest scholars, including Michael Faraday, who invited him to attend a lecture he gave before the Royal Institution in London. A few months after his return to France and the drafting of his report on the Exhibition, Ébelmen suffered from a brain fever. He died on March 31, 1852. The Ébelmen Award in Geochemistry, given out by the International Association of GeoChemistry, is named in his honour. His name is one of the 72 names inscribed on the Eiffel Tower.

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