Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours (1771–1834) was a French American chemist and industrialist who founded the gunpowder manufacturer E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company. The son of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours (1739-1817), Eleuthère Irénée, or E.I., was born in Paris on June 24, 1771. In 1787, he was accepted as a student at the Régie des Poudres, a government agency for the manufacture of gunpowder, directed by Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794). In 1800, he emigrated to the United States, where he, his father, and brother, Victor Marie du Pont (1767-1827), established the commission house Du Pont de Nemours, Père et Fils & Cie.

After consulting with Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), E.I. du Pont established E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. in 1802 on the bank of the Brandywine River, just north of Wilmington, Delaware, and dissolved the New York commission house, which was only marginally profitable. In the spring of 1803, he settled his family at Eleutherian Mills and wrote to Jefferson seeking government patronage for his new powder factory.

By the War of 1812, E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co., which had adopted European technology to the American environment, had become one of the largest powder producers in the United States. E.I. du Pont and his sons were active in Whig Party politics, as they were supporters of high protective tariffs. On this and other issues he strongly identified with Henry Clay. In 1822, E.I. du Pont was named director of the Bank of the United States, a position he held until shortly before his death.