Musician and inventor, born in Dinant, France. With his father he invented (patented 1845) a valved brass wind-instrument he called the sax-horn, also the saxophone, the saxtromba, and the sax-tuba. He moved to Paris to promote his inventions, and in 1857 was appointed as an instructor at the Paris Conservatoire. He failed to make a commercial success of his products, was involved in lengthy lawsuits with other instrument makers, and died in poverty.