Who is Nicolas Appert from On Food and Cooking and what is their importance?

Nicolas Appert was a French brewer and confectioner around the year, 1800. While working in his brewery, he discovered that if he sealed food in a glass container and then heated the container in boiling water, the food would keep without spoiling. Although this process seems minor, it was, in fact, the first known use of canning as a method of preservation. His discovery was vital to food science, as it allows hundreds of products to be enjoyed across the world by individuals who would otherwise be unable to sample such foods.