Born 26 Aug 1743 in Paris, Ile-de-France, France

Husband of Marie-Anne Pierrette (Paulze) Lavoisier — married about 1772 in France

Died 8 May 1794 at age 50 in Paris, Seine, France

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Biography

Antoine Lavoisier is Notable.

Antoine Lavoisier has French origins.

Antoine Lavoisier was a member of the aristocracy in Europe.

Antoine Lavoisier was the father of Modern Chemistry.

Antoine was born in 1743 to a wealthy aristocratic family in Paris. He was a French nobleman and chemist who is known as the founder and "father of modern chemistry." He revolutionized the science of chemistry and was one of the greatest scientist the world has ever known.

He attended the University of Paris 1761?1763. Like his father, he earned a law degree, but his heart was in science. As a student he declared, "I am young and avid for glory." (In French, of course.) The American Chemical Society would make sure that future generations to come would not forget his significant contributions.

His carefully conducted experiments that changed the practice and concepts of chemistry and introduced a new series of laboratory analyses. He discovered and named Oxygen, Carbon, Hydrogen, and Silicon. He discovered the role of oxygen in combustion, and the composition of water. He is also known for Stoichiometry, which is the measurement of the ratios of elements in chemical compounds. For example, Antoine discovered that a water molecule consists of one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms. He established the law of conservation of mass, meaning that mater cannot be created or destroyed, but it can change from one state to another. (Matter is also interchangeable with energy, but that discovery would have to wait for Albert Einstein.)

He married Marie Anne Paulette in 1771, who also died in 1794, presumably of the same cause as her husband.

Died Too Young: Life's Blossom Cut Short.

He also worked as a tax-collector and tried to reform the French tax system, which was quite unpopular at the time. Antoine was murdered in 1794 during the "reign of terror" in the French revolution. The noted Italian mathematician and astronomer, Giuseppe Lodovico Lagrangia, (aka Joseph-Louis LaGrange), who is known for contributions in number theory and celestial mechanics, among other things, was in a position to appreciate the advances in chemistry of Antoine Lavoisier. He exclaimed, "It took them only an instant to cut off that head, but France may not produce another like it in a century."

Antoine Lavoisier is proof positive that no good deed goes unpunished.

Sources

• The Britannica Guide to The 100 Most Influential Scientists (2007), pp. 128-132.
• Antoine Lavoisier, Wikipedia.org [1]
• Famous Scientists [2]
• Science World Wolfram Biography [scienceworld.wolfram.com/biography/Lavoisier.html]
• Mystery of Matter [www.mysteryofmatter.net/Lavoisier.html]
• Science History [3]
• American Chemical Society Education [4]
• UH.edu [5]
• "Chemistry cover-up and incoherent chloroform" by Sam Lemonick, 26 Sep. 2021. A version of this story appeared in Volume 99, Issue 35 of Chemical and Engineering News, published by the American Chemical Society. [6]

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