Auguste Victor Louis Verneuil (French: [vɛʁnœj]; 3 November 1856 – 27 April 1913) was a French chemist who invented the first commercially viable process for the manufacture of synthetic gemstones.[1] In 1902 he discovered the "flame fusion" process, called the Verneuil process, which is an inexpensive method of making artificial corundum, or rubies and sapphires.[1]