Eligio Perucca (28 March 1890– 5 January 1965)[1] was an Italian physics instructor and researcher at the University of Turin in Italy in the early decades of the twentieth century.

In addition he was Rector of the Polytechnic from 1947–1955, and largely devoted his energy to rebuilding the physical facilities which had been destroyed during World War II.

[3] In a paper published in 1919,[4] Perucca reported an experiment which produced optical rotatory dispersion (ORD) as a result of passing linearly polarized light through colored crystals of sodium chlorate.

Perucca's experiment was the forerunner of another field of study which arose in the 1970s, in connection with enantioselective adsorption of racemic mixtures on inorganic crystals.

During his tenure at the Turin Polytechnic, Perucca studied the Volta Effect, measuring with high precision the electronegativity between pairs of dissimilar metals.

In 2001, University of Washington chemistry professor Bart E. Kahr determined to compile a complete list of studies on crystal dyeing.

After studying and researching the subject, Kahr and associates Yonghong Bing and Werner Kaminsky repeated the experiment in 2008, using aniline blue as the dyeing compound.

But Perucca failed the already demoralized student and explained that the basins were so located in order to allow the workers to wash their hands while standing up.