Norbert Rillieux, chemical engineer, inventor and Egyptologist, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. The son of an inventor and engineer, Rillieux was educated in Paris schools and, at 24, became an instructor at L'Ecole Centrale and published papers on steam economy. Rillieux is best known for inventing the "multiple evaporation process" used to refine sugar and manufacture paper. The process was widely used in France. In 1934, the sugar industry honored Rillieux with a plaque in the Louisiana State Museum.