CATHOLIC SCIENTISTS: - ANTOINE LAVOISIER; (Guillotined 8th May 1794)

CATHOLIC SCIENTISTS: -

ANTOINE LAVOISIER

(Guillotined 8th May 1794)

Antoine Lavoisier was a French scientist who had a profound influence on the development of chemistry and biology. In 1778 he recognised and named oxygen; in 1783, he recognised and named hydrogen; he discovered (or recognised), the role oxygen plays in combustion; in 1787, he predicted the existence of silicon. (1)

He was born on 26th August 1743, the son of a prominent lawyer, his mother belonging to a rich and influential family- (prior to the French Revolution, his name was Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier). His mother died when he was five years old and his aunt, to whom he was devoted, provided a strong hand in his education and development.

He attended the College Mazarin in Paris in 1754 at the age of 11, “which was noted for its faculty of science, and there he studied mathematics and astronomy under Abbé de la Caille, who had built an observatory at the college after having won renown by measuring an arc of the meridian at the Cape of Good Hope, by determining the length of the second's pendulum, and by his catalogue of the stars. Young Lavoisier also received instruction from Bernard de Jussieu in botany, from Guettard in geology and mineralogy, and from Rouelle in chemistry. In logic he was influenced by the writings of Abbé de Condillac, as he frequently acknowledges in his "Traité Elementaire de Chimi."

“He began his career by entering the profession of the law, but soon abandoned this to return to his favourite studies of chemistry and mineralogy. His first scientific communication to the Academy was upon the composition and properties of gypsum and plaster of Paris, and this is today a classic and a valuable contribution to our knowledge of crystallizing cements. He early learned to look to the balance for help in the definition of facts, and found its great value particularly when he began to study the phenomena we now know under the terms ‘combustion’ or ‘oxidation’, and ‘reduction’ or ‘deoxidation’.” (2)

He rebutted a scientific teaching of the day, called Phlogistonism, described in New Advent, as follows:

“He seized upon two important discoveries, that of oxygen by Priestley (1774), and that of the compound nature of water by Cavendish (1781) and by a masterly stroke of genius reconciled discordant appearances and threw the light of day upon every phase of the world's reacting elements. His theory, for a long time thereafter known as the antiphlogists' theory, was really the reverse of that of the phlogistonists, and was simply that something ponderable was absorbed when combustion took place; that it was obtained from the surrounding air; that the increase in the weight of a metallic substance when burned was equal to the decrease in the weight of the air used; that most substances thus burning were converted into acids, or metals into metallic oxides. Priestly had called this absorbed substance or gas dephlogisticated air; Scheele called it empyreal air; Lavoisier "air strictly pure" or "very respirable air" as distinct from the other and non-respirable constituents of the atmosphere. Later, he called it oxygen because it was acid-making (oxys, and geinomai).

“So great a change ensued in experimental chemistry, and in theory and nomenclature, and such a mass of facts was co-ordinated and explained by Lavoisier that he has been justly called "the father of modern chemistry." He was the first to explain definitely, the formation of acids and salts, to enunciate the principle of conservation as set forth by chemical equations, to develop quantitative analysis, gas analysis, and calorimetry, and to create a consistent system of chemical nomenclature. He made deep researches in organic chemistry, and studied the metabolism of organic compounds. His memoirs and contributions to the Academy were of extraordinary number and variety. His life in other fields was romantic, full of interest and a social triumph, but sadly destined to end in tragedy. Happily married, and having the aid of his wife even to the extent of employing her in the prosecution and recording of his experiments, he drew around his fireside and to his library……..a circle of brilliant French savants and distinguished travellers from other lands.” (3)

He brought a share in the Ferme Generale, a tax-farming financial company which advanced the estimated tax revenues to the royal government in return for the right to collect taxes. (4) He dedicated a significant portion of his income and time to socially responsible work of benefit to the general public, including: the improvement of agricultural practices and industry; the provision of fresh water via the design of an aqueduct; purifying the water from the Seine for drinking. His expertise in sanitation and chemistry of water he applied to the public interest. He focussed on air quality and performed a study on the reconstruction of the Hotel Dieu hospital after it had been damaged by fire in a way that would allow proper ventilation and clean air.

“He headed many public commissions, [aiming] at bringing France to such a state of agricultural and industrial expansion that the peasant and the working-man would have profitable employment and the small landed proprietor relief from the burdensome taxes hitherto purposely increased to make grants to corrupt favourites of the Court. “ (5)

In 1791, he participated in an investigation of conditions in the prisons, particularly in regard to their hygiene, making recommendations for their improvement, which remained ignored.

In 1771 he married Marie-Anne Pierrette Paulze, who was to play an important part in his scientific career; she translated English documents for him, “including, Richard Kirwan’s Essay on Phlogiston and Joseph Priestley’s research. In addition, she assisted him in the laboratory and created many sketches and carved engravings of the laboratory instruments used by Lavoisier and his colleagues for their scientific works. Madame Lavoisier edited and published Antoine's memoirs ....... and hosted parties at which eminent scientists discussed ideas and problems related to chemistry.” (6)

Having incurred the hatred of Marat he found himself, together with his fellow fermiers generales, the subject of increasing invective during the Revolution and the ensuing time of the Terror. The French Revolution, framed as a revolution by and for the workers, targeted the nobility and Catholic clergy (and, of course, intellectuals), as representative of a world-view which required eradication in their improvement of society.

In 1794 he was arrested. A farcical show-trial ensued in which he was charged with "incivism" - that is, that he had damaged public health by adding water to tobacco. He and his companions, amongst them Jacques Alexis Paulze, his father-in-law, were condemned to death. Lavoisier, who was devoted to him, was made to stand and witness M. Paulze's head fall under the guillotine. He himself was guillotined on 8th May, 1794. He was then 51 years old.

New Advent says: “His biographers say little as to his last hours. Grimaux relates that all the condemned men were silent and carried themselves with dignity and courage in the face of death. ……

“Raised in a pious family which had given many priests to the Church, [Lavoisier] held to his beliefs. To Edward King, an English author who had sent him a controversial work, he wrote, 'You have done a noble thing in upholding revelation and the authenticity of the Holy Scripture, and it is remarkable that you are using for the defence precisely the same weapons which were once used for the attack.'

IMAGE: A portrait of Antoine and Marie-Anne Lavoisier was painted (ironically) by Jacques-Louis David and was completed in 1788 on the eve of the Revolution. Even though David was a follower and admirer of Marat and Robespierre, the inflammatory atmosphere of the times dictated that the painting was denied the customary public display at the Paris Salon for fear that it might inflame the anti-aristocratic passions which had been whipped up by the revolutionaries. (7)

(1) Wikipedia.

(2) New Advent, Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier.

(3) Ibid.

(4) Ibid.

(5) Wikipedia.

(6) New Advent, opcit.

(7) Ibid. IMAGE: Wikipedia.