Alexander Selligue

{{Short description|French engineer}}

Alexander François Selligue (1784-1845) was a French engineer. His name was in fact Alexandre François Gilles, but he used

Selligue as an anagram of Gilles.

In 1832, he together with David Blum patented an application of shale oil for direct illumination. In 1838, he patented "the employment of mineral oils for lighting". His process of distilling bituminous shales (oil shale) was first described in the Journal des Connaissances Usuelles in 1834.

{{Cite journal

| last= Silliman | first= B

| title= Review of Dr. Antisell's Work on Photogenic or Hydrocarbon-Oils from Coal

| journal= The American Journal of Science and Arts

| publisher = New Haven Editors

| volume = 29

| issue= 2

| pages = 118–119

|date=May 1860

| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=KsEEAAAAYAAJ&q=Selligue+process&pg=RA1-PA119

| accessdate=2009-06-05}}

This process for the oil shale retorting was first used in Autun, France, in 1838.{{cite web

| title = Studies of the Scottish oil shale industry. Vol.1 History of the industry, working conditions, and mineralogy of Scottish and Green River formation shales. Final report on US Department of Energy

| author1 = Louw, S.J.

| author2 = Addison, J.

| editor = Seaton, A.

| publisher = Institute of Occupational Medicine

| url = https://www.osti.gov/biblio/5807938

| page = 35

| year = 1985

| osti = 5807938

| id = DE-ACO2 – 82ER60036

| accessdate = 2009-06-05

}} This is considered the start of the modern oil shale industry.