Antoine Lavoisier

Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier , also Antoine Lavoisier after the <a href="/facts/French_Revolution/PIkDlrC0">French Revolution</a>, was a <a href="/facts/French_nobleman/9ahBwRfc">French nobleman</a> and <a href="/facts/Chemist/N09K7Bdm">chemist</a> who was central to the 18th-century <a href="/facts/Chemical_revolution/ab4z8Tht">chemical revolution</a> and who had a large influence on both the <a href="/facts/History_of_chemistry/toCwmnGW">history of chemistry</a> and the <a href="/facts/History_of_biology/hpWUBuml">history of biology</a>.
It is generally accepted that Lavoisier's great accomplishments in chemistry stem largely from his changing the science from a <a href="/facts/Analytical_chemistry/MHQf3YP6">qualitative</a> to a <a href="/facts/Quantitative_analysis_(chemistry)/pNT5Rqy2">quantitative</a> one. Lavoisier is most noted for his discovery of the role <a href="/facts/Oxygen/acyn6o8r">oxygen</a> plays in <a href="/facts/Combustion/ohQoWj8z">combustion</a>. He named oxygen (1778), recognizing it as an element, and also recognized <a href="/facts/Hydrogen/BoYHjl0J">hydrogen</a> as an element (1783), opposing the <a href="/facts/Phlogiston_theory/6PDveBmv">phlogiston theory</a>. Lavoisier helped construct the <a href="/facts/Metric_system/to24H0YK">metric system</a>, wrote the first extensive <a href="/facts/History_of_the_periodic_table/54vj6AVe">list of elements</a>, and helped to reform <a href="/facts/Chemical_nomenclature/scv3SqmM">chemical nomenclature</a>. He predicted the existence of <a href="/facts/Silicon/cgWx0hdr">silicon</a> (1787) and discovered that, although <a href="/facts/Matter/osyc04UN">matter</a> may change its form or shape, <a href="/facts/Conservation_of_mass/fRu05SS1">its mass always remains the same</a>. His wife and laboratory assistant, <a href="/facts/Marie-Anne_Paulze_Lavoisier/4odtJ1lm">Marie-Anne Paulze Lavoisier</a>, became a renowned chemist in her own right.
Lavoisier was a powerful member of a number of <a href="/facts/Aristocracy_(class)/Ij9GVxCE">aristocratic</a> councils, and an administrator of the <a href="/facts/Ferme_g%C3%A9n%C3%A9rale/PyfyyIlt">Ferme générale</a>. The Ferme générale was one of the most hated components of the <a href="/facts/Ancien_R%C3%A9gime/4pCsWuFK">Ancien Régime</a> because of the profits it took at the expense of the state, the secrecy of the terms of its contracts, and the violence of its armed agents. All of these political and economic activities enabled him to fund his scientific research. At the height of the French Revolution, he was charged with tax fraud and selling adulterated <a href="/facts/Tobacco/bTD4RUPQ">tobacco</a>, and was <a href="/facts/Guillotine/E6SUBNJF">guillotined</a> despite appeals to spare his life in recognition of his contributions to science. A year and a half later, he was exonerated by the French government.

Antoine Lavoisier open-in-new

Antoine Lavoisier