François Auguste Victor Grignard was a French chemist who developed the synthetic reaction that came to be known as the ‘Grignard reaction’. The discovery, which was part of his doctoral thesis relating to organomagnesium compounds, opened a wide spectrum of organic synthesis. It earned him the ‘Nobel Prize in Chemistry’ in 1912 that he shared with another French organic chemist Paul Sabatier. He served as a teacher of chemistry at the ‘University of Lyon’. He also remained a Professor of ‘Organic Chemistry’ and Professor of ‘General Chemistry’ at the ‘University of Nancy’ and at the ‘University of Lyon’ respectively. He served as Director of ‘École de Chimie Industrielle de Lyons’ for over a decade. During the ‘First World War’, he examined the chemical warfare agents, especially the production of phosgene and also detected dichloroethyl sulfide that is mustard gas for its application as chemical weaponry. His other studies include ozonization of unsaturated compounds and condensation of ketones and aldehydes. He received several awards including ‘Cahours Prize’ in 1901 and 1902; ‘Berthelot Medal’ in 1902; ‘Prix Jecker Prize’ in 1905 and ‘Lavoisier Medal’ in 1912. He was honoured with the order of ‘French Legion of Honor’ as Chevalier in 1912 and as Officer in 1920 and as Commander in 1933. He received honorary doctorates from universities of Louvain and Brussels. He was foreign member of ‘Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences’ and Honorary Fellow of ‘Chemical Society’ of London.