Born in Orléans,[1] Plisson was orphaned at an early age, but overcame the difficulties that caused him with the determination he brought to being a student of chemistry in Paris.
Taught by Noël-Étienne Henry, chief of the Central Pharmacy of Paris Hospitals (Pharmacie centrale des hôpitaux de Paris, today the Agence générale des équipements et produits de santé),[2] he won several awards from the School of Pharmacy of Paris, including a gold medal for chemistry in 1823,[3] and was eventually recruited by Henry to work for the Central Pharmacy.
[2] After several years, during which he published a number of papers on chemical discoveries, he was appointed deputy chief.
[2] By the late 1820s, Plisson had become chief pharmacist at Paris's Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital.
[2] In 1827, with Étienne-Ossian Henry, the son of his former tutor, he discovered aspartic acid.