拉瓦锡

Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier (also Antoine Lavoisier after the French
Revolution; 26 August 1743 – 8 May 1794) was a French nobleman and chemist
central to the 18th-century Chemical Revolution and a large influence on both
the histories of chemistry and biology. He is widely considered to be the
"Father of Modern Chemistry."
拉瓦锡1743年8月26日出生在巴黎，其父为律师。小时候在家庭教师的辅导下，学过天文学、数学、化学、植物学、矿物学和地质学等，并因经常接近当时一位著名的化学家而对化学很感兴趣。23岁时，曾以关于城市灯光问题的论文获得法国科学院的金质奖章。1768年（25岁）多选法兰西科学院院士。

拉瓦锡自1772年开始研究燃烧问题。他通过一系列的实验发现：磷、硫等物质在燃烧时，其重量的增加系由于同空气结合生产成新物质所致。接着他对空气的成分又作了研究，发现空气中有五分之一的物质可以助燃，当时称之为“纯空气”，后来定名为“氧”。这一发现推翻了当时科学界占统治地位的“燃素”学说，使化学前进了一大步。
It is generally accepted that Lavoisier's great accomplishments in chemistry
largely stem from the fact that he changed the science from a qualitative to a
quantitative one. Lavoisier is most noted for his discovery of the role oxygen
plays in combustion. He recognized and named oxygen (1778) and hydrogen (1783)
and disproved the phlogiston theory, which was universally accepted in his time.
Lavoisier helped construct the metric system, wrote the first extensive list
of elements, and helped to reform chemical nomenclature. He predicted the
existence of silicon (1787) and was also the first to establish that sulfur
was an element (1777) rather than a compound. He discovered that, although
matter may change its form or shape, its mass always remains the same.

Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier. Line engraving by Louis Jean Desire Delaistre,
after a design by Julien Leopold Boilly. Modific. version 2.
（约出版于十九世纪后期）

As the French Revolution gained momentum from 1789 on, Lavoisier's world
inexorably collapsed around him. Attacks mounted on the deeply unpopular Ferme
Generale, and it was eventually suppressed in 1791. In 1792 Lavoisier was
forced to resign from his post on the Gunpowder Commission and to move from
his house and laboratory at the Royal Arsenal. On August 8, 1793, all the
learned societies, including the Academy of Sciences, were suppressed.
It is difficult to assess Lavoisier's own attitude to the political turmoil.
Like so many intellectual liberals, he felt that the Ancien Regime could be
reformed from the inside if only reason and moderation prevailed. Characterist-
ically, one of his last major works was a proposal to the National Convention
for the reform of French education. He tried to remain aloof from the political
cockpit, no doubt fearful and uncomprehending of the violence he saw therein.
However, on Nov. 24, 1793, the arrest of all the former tax gatherers was
ordered. He was branded a traitor by the Convention under Maximilien de
Robespierre during the Reign of Terror, in 1794. He had also intervened on
behalf of a number of foreign-born scientists including mathematician Joseph
Louis Lagrange, granting them exception to a mandate stripping all foreigners
of possessions and freedom.
Lavoisier was tried, convicted, and guillotined on 8 May 1794 in Paris,
at the age of 50.

Statue of Lavoisier, at Hotel de Ville, Paris

Lavoisier conducting an experiment on respiration in the 1770s

The work of Lavoisier was translated in Japan in the 1840s

Lavoisier's Laboratory, Musee des Arts et Metiers, Paris