Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier
(26 August 1743 ? 8 May 1794) was a
French
nobleman
,
chemist
and
biologist
. He is often called the
"Father of Modern Chemistry"
.
[1]
His work is an important part of the histories of chemistry and biology.
[2]
It also contributed to the beginnings of
atomic theory
. He was the first scientist to recognise and name the
elements
hydrogen
and
oxygen
. He was
executed
, as were hundreds of other nobles, during the
French Revolution
.
Antoine de Lavoisier began studying at the
College Mazarin
in
Paris
in 1754, when he was 11 years old. College Mazarin was one of the best secondary schools in France then. He studied to be a
lawyer
like his father and his grandfather. He got his degree in 1763 and practised law at the
parliament
; however, he really preferred
scientific
research
to law, so he also studied
chemistry
,
botany
,
astronomy
, and
mathematics
. He got his law degree in 1763, but never practised as a lawyer. He started a career as a scientist instead.
[3]
During his career, Lavoisier brought major changes to the study of chemistry. Much of his research was done on
combustion
. He is the person who explained combustion by
oxidation
. To prove this, Lavoisier studied the air. In order to do this, in 1776, he burned
mercury
in an enclosed vase. His conclusion: the air is a combination of oxygen and is not a
chemical element
.
He also discovered the law of
conservation of mass
that is
nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is transformed
. It says that the mass of the final products of a chemical reaction is the same as the reactants’ ones. Today, this principle is the basis of modern chemistry.
[4]
Lavoisier, together with
L. B. Guyton de Morveau
,
Claude-Louis Berthollet
and
Antoine Francois de Fourcroy
, created the first system of
chemical nomenclature
in the 1780s.
[5]
While he was doing research for chemistry, Lavoisier was also working at the government. During this time, the
French Revolution
began in 1789. Antoine kept his position in the government. But, two years later, a new government arrived in power. This new government was suspicious of Lavoisier's great success as a scientific researcher and as a public administrator. He was accused of selling modified
tobacco
. He was arrested for
conspiracy
against the people. Even though there was no proof that showed that Antoine de Lavoisier broke the law, he was sentenced to death on 8 May 1794.
[6]
He was executed using the
guillotine
.
- ↑
"Lavoisier, Antoine"
.
Encyclopædia Britannica
. 24 July 2007.
- ↑
Schwinger, Julian (1986).
Einstein's Legacy
. New York: Scientific American Library. pp.
93
.
ISBN
0-7167-5011-2
.
- ↑
Guilderson, Hugh L.
Biographical encyclopedia of scientists
, 5 Vol., United States, Marshall Cavendish, 1998, page 796 to 798
- ↑
Moulaye Ahmed, Salah Ould.
De Thales a Einstein, l’histoire de la science a travers ses grands hommes
, France, Studyrama, 2007, page 75.
- ↑
Guyton de Morveau, L. B.; Lavoisier, A. L.; Berthollet, C. L.; Fourcroy, A. F. de (1787),
Methode de Nomenclature Chimique
, Paris: Cuchet, archived from
the original
on 2011-07-21
, retrieved
2013-10-20
.
- ↑
Dictionnaire des inventeurs et inventions
, Paris, editions in Extenso, 1996, page 506