(c1750-1841) the "father of the modern canning industry"

Nicolas Appert was a chef, confectioner, and distiller in the town of Châlons-sur-Marne when, in 1795, the French Directory offered a prize to anyone who could develop a new method of preserving food in such a way that the product was easily transportable. He spent the next fourteen years working on the problem until, in 1810, he was ready to claim the prize of 12,000 francs. The next year, as a condition of the award, he published a description of his system as The Art of Preserving All Kinds of Animal and Vegetable Substances for Several Years.

Appert's basic discovery was that decomposition could be prevented if food was sealed inside glass bottles or jars so that all air was excluded. The jars with their contents