Antoine J矇r繫me Balard (September 30, 1802 - April 30, 1876) was a French chemist. Born at Montpellier, he started as an apothecary, but taking up teaching he acted as chemical assistant at the faculty of sciences of his native town, and then became professor of chemistry at the royal college and school of pharmacy. In 1826 he discovered in seawater a substance which he recognized as a previously unknown element and named bromine. This achievement brought him the reputation that secured his election as successor to Th矇nard in the chair of chemistry at the faculty of sciences in Paris, and in 1851 he was appointed professor of chemistry at the College de France. Balard had Louis Pasteur as a pupil when Pasteur was only 26 years old. It was in Balard's laboratory that Pasteur discovered the difference between "right-handed" and "left-handed" crystals while he was working with tartaric acid. Balard died in Paris in 1876 at the age of 73. No photographer credited, undated.