Charles François de Cisternay du Fay (14 September 1698 – 16 July 1739) was a French chemist and superintendent of the Jardin du Roi.

He discovered the existence of two types of electricity and named them "vitreous" and "resinous" (later known as positive and negative charge respectively).

He noted the difference between conductors and insulators, calling them 'electrics' and 'non-electrics' for their ability to produce contact electrification.

Du Fay's observations on electricity were reported in a paper written in December 1733 and printed in Volume 38 of the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society in 1734.

[1] All Du Fay's publications appeared in the journal Histoire de l'Académie Royale des Sciences: avec les mémoires de mathématique & de physique pour les mêmes années