Definition for Lavoisier, Antoine
From Biology Forums Dictionary
Lavoisier, Antoine (1743 to 1794): Chemist, born in Paris. To finance his investigations, in 1768 he accepted the office of farmer-general of taxes, and became director of the government powder mills in 1776. In 1788 he showed that air is a mixture of gases which he called oxygen and nitrogen, thus disproving the earlier theory of phlogiston. His major work is the Traité élémentaire de chimie (1789), containing the ideas which set chemistry on its modern path. He also devised the modern method of naming chemical compounds, and was a member of the commission which devised the metric system. Politically a liberal, and despite his many reforms, he was guillotined in Paris on a contrived charge of counter-revolutionary activity. He is now recognized as the founder of modern chemistry.
