Norbert Rillieux's Sugar Refining Process Dominates the Global Industry

Norbert Rillieux, a free Black Creole engineer from New Orleans, had patented his multiple-effect evaporator in 1843, revolutionizing sugar refining worldwide. In the Gilded Age his process was standard in every major sugar-producing nation. Rillieux spent his later years in Paris, deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics and winning French agricultural prizes.