Adrien C. B. Chenot (born on August 30, 1803; died November 27, 1855) was a French engineer best known for his inventions in metallurgy as well as his research on manufactured gases. He is notably the inventor of one of the first modern methods of direct reduction of iron ore, based on the use of coal reacting with the ore in retorts . He exhibited the first samples of pre-reduced iron ore at the Lisbon Universal Exhibition of 1849, and was awarded the "Grandes Medailles d'Or" (Gold Medal of Honour) at the Paris Universal Exposition of 1855.