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1743–1794 · Modern Chemistry

Antoine Lavoisier

French nobleman widely called the "father of modern chemistry", who established the law of conservation of mass, named oxygen and hydrogen, and overthrew the phlogiston theory.

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Early Life

Born in Paris in 1743 into a wealthy family, Lavoisier inherited a fortune when his mother died when he was five. He studied law at the Collège Mazarin to please his father, but attended lectures in chemistry, botany, astronomy and mathematics. At 25 he was elected to the French Academy of Sciences. He bought a share in the Ferme Générale, a private tax-collecting company, which funded his lavish laboratory. In 1771 he married 13-year-old Marie-Anne Paulze, who became his skilled collaborator, translator and illustrator.

Major Discoveries

  • 01Law of conservation of mass: matter is neither created nor destroyed in a reaction
  • 02Explained combustion and respiration as reactions with oxygen, disproving phlogiston
  • 03Named oxygen (1778) and hydrogen (1783)
  • 04Showed water is a compound of hydrogen and oxygen
  • 05Wrote the first modern list of chemical elements (33 substances)
  • 06Co-created a systematic chemical nomenclature still used today

Famous Experiments

  • 01Heated tin and phosphorus in sealed vessels, weighing carefully to show mass is conserved
  • 02Heated mercury in air for 12 days to form mercury calx and isolate the 'vital air' (oxygen)
  • 03Measured heat released by a guinea pig with Laplace's ice calorimeter, linking respiration to combustion
  • 04Synthesised and decomposed water in large public demonstrations

Awards & Honors

  • 01Elected member of the French Academy of Sciences (1768)
  • 02Gold Medal from the King of France for street-lighting research (1766)
  • 03Fellow of the Royal Society

Legacy

His book 'Traité élémentaire de chimie' (1789) is considered the first modern chemistry textbook. By insisting on precise measurement, he turned chemistry from alchemy into a quantitative science. He also helped develop the metric system.

Fun Facts

  • 01He was guillotined in 1794 during the French Revolution for his tax-collecting role
  • 02The judge reportedly said: 'The Republic has no need of savants'
  • 03Mathematician Lagrange said: 'It took them only an instant to cut off that head, and a hundred years may not produce another like it'
  • 04His wife Marie-Anne drew the precise engravings of his laboratory equipment