The Founder of Modern Science and Chemistry

Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier

The French chemist Antoine Laurent Lavoisier (1743-1794) was the founder of the modern science of chemistry and the author of the oxygen theory of combustion.

• Born: 26 August 1743
• Birthplace: Paris, France
• Died: 8 May 1794 (beheading)
• Best Known As: French chemist who proved the law of conservation of mass

        Antoine Laurent Lavoisier was born in Paris on Aug. 26, 1743, the son of an attorney at the Parlement of Paris. Lavoisier began his schooling at the Collège Mazarin in Paris at the age of 11. In his last two years (1760-1761) at the college his scientific interests were aroused. In the philosophy class he came under the tutelage of Abbé Nicolas Louis de Lacaille, a distinguished mathematician and observational astronomer who imbued the young Lavoisier with an interest in meteorological observation, an enthusiasm which never left him.

Lavoisier entered the school of law, where he received a bachelor's degree in 1763 and a licentiate in 1764. However, he continued his scientific education in his spare time. In 1764 he read his first paper to the French Academy of Sciences, on the chemical and physical properties of gypsum (hydrated calcium sulfate), and in 1766 he was awarded a gold medal by the King for an essay on the problems of urban street lighting.

       In 1768 Lavoisier received a provisional appointment to the Academy of Sciences. About the same time he bought a share in the Tax Farm, a financial company which advanced the estimated tax revenue to the royal government in return for the right to collect the taxes. It was to prove a fateful step. Lavoisier consolidated his social and economic position when, in 1771, he married Marie Anne Pierrette Paulze, the 14-year-old daughter of a senior member of the Tax Farm. She was to play an important part in Lavoisier's scientific career, translating English chemical works into French for him, assisting in the laboratory, and drawing diagrams for his scientific works.

         For 3 years following his entry into the Tax Farm, Lavoisier's scientific activity diminished somewhat, for much of his time was taken up with official Tax Farm business. He did, however, present one important memoir to the Academy of Sciences during this period, on the supposed conversion of water into earth by evaporation. By a very precise quantitative experiment Lavoisier showed that the "earthy" sediment produced after long-continued reflux heating of water in a glass vessel was not due to a conversion of the water into earth but rather to the gradual disintegration of the inside of the glass vessel produced by the boiling water.

Source: Lavoisier Biographies