Antoine Lavoisier
1743–1794 · French · Enlightenment / French Revolution
Known for: Father of Modern Chemistry who named oxygen, hydrogen, and established conservation of mass
Antoine Lavoisier transformed chemistry from alchemy into a science through precise measurement. He named oxygen and hydrogen, established the law of conservation of mass, and helped construct the metric system. He was the first to clearly identify chemical elements and wrote the first modern chemistry textbook.
He was also a tax collector—a fermier general—which funded his science but proved fatal. During the Reign of Terror, he was guillotined in a single day. Lagrange observed: 'It took them only an instant to cut off his head, but France may not produce another such head in a century.'
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