The Anselme Payen Award is an annual prize named in honor for the distinguished French scientist who discovered cellulose, and pioneered in the chemistry of both cellulose and lignin. In 1838, he discovered that treating successively wood with nitric acid and an alkaline solution yielded a major insoluble residue that he called "cellulose", while dissolved incrustants were later called "lignin" by Frank Schulze. He was the first to attempt separation of wood into its component parts. After treating different woods with nitric acid he obtained a fibrous substance common to all which he also found in cotton and other plants. His analysis revealed the chemical formula of the substance to be C6H10O5. He reported the discovery and the first results of this classic work in 1838 in Comptes Rendus