Achard, Franz Karl (1753-1821)

German chemist who was largely responsible for developing the industrial process by which table sugar (sucrose) is extracted from beet. He improved the quality of available beet and erected the first factory for the extraction of sugar in Silesia (now in Poland) 1802. Achard was a student of Andreas Margraff (1709-1782), who isolated sugar from beet on an experimental scale 1747 in Germany.