1-152-221 - Ann Ronan Picture Library/Heritage-Images

Nicolas Francois Appert (1749-1841), French chef and inventor, c1870. Appert devised a method of preserving food, first in glass bottles that had been sealed with wax and immersed in boiling water, later in tin-plated cans. For doing so he claimed a prize of 12,000 francs offered by Napoleon I to anyone who could come up with a method of preserving food for his armies.