a Swiss physicist and chemist. He invented the Argand lamp, a great improvement on the traditional oil lamp. In 1780, he started to invent improvements on the conventional oil lamp. The basic idea was to have a cylindrical wick which air could flow through and around, increasing the intensity of the light produced. In 1783, Argand met brothers Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier and Joseph-Michel Montgolfier in France and became closely involved with his sensational experiments to devise a hot air balloon.
