Antoine Laurent Lavoisier

1743-1794

 

	“The Father of Modern Chemistry.” He was a French tax-collector who conducted chemistry experiments as an avocation. Being an accountant, he believed the ledger should balance in chemistry as well as in business and formulated the Law of Conservation of Mass. He is principally known, in his Traité de Chemie in 1789, for overthrowing the phlogiston theory by postulating the correct elements (instead of fire, earth, water, and air). He based this treatise on extensive experimentation including the reaction of hydrogen and oxygen (both of which he named) to form the compound (and not element!) water.
	"Phlogiston and Lavoisier" article in the Hexagon of Alpha Chi Sigma Photograph of Paris, France--where he worked and lived Photographs of Paris, France in Paris 2C Photographs of Paris, France in Paris 2D Photographs of Paris, France in Paris 2E Photographs of Paris, France in Paris 2G

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