Antoine Laurent Lavoisier

Termed by some to be the "Father of Modern Chemistry," Antoine Laurent Lavoisier came from a distinctly noble background, and used his privilege to ascend the ranks of scientists of the era. He was profoundly fascinated by chemistry and biology, and studied these in depth throughout his formal training period. By closely examining previous theories that had been put forth, he was able to improve upon them using the scientific method and create his own theories that have been the backbone of modern atomic chemistry and nuclear theories.

One important scientific advancement that Antoine Laurent Lavoisier discovered was in relation to the previous work that had been completed by Henry Cavendish. This was that the "inflammable air," or hydrogen, that had been discovered by the Englishman, could be converted to water, or H2O, when combined with oxygen. This was instrumental in improving the knowledge that chemists at the time had about putting together the building blocks of elements to create new chemical compounds, and understand more about how matter works. Lavoisier thus gave these elements the names oxygen and hydrogen, which are still used to this day.

The first law of conservation of mass was also invented by Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, which is also a scientific principle that is used heavily to this day. This basically states that when mass is able to change either its shape or form, the mass will remain the same no matter what. That is a fundamental principle that is extremely important to understanding the physical sciences. He also was responsible for writing the first official list of elements, which he termed the "Elements of Chemistry." This was then adapted over the years to become the Periodic Table of Elements that is taught to chemistry students from a very young age. Lavoisier was the first to change the language of chemistry in this way and set these common standards.

For all of these extremely important discoveries that were made in the laboratories of Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, he will be remembered as being the chemist that helped make the full transition from alchemy to modern chemistry. His genius was in taking previous discoveries and fleshing them out into practical rules, laws, and language that could be set as a standard for generations of chemists to come. Though he reached an untimely end during the French Revolution at the hands of the guillotine, his legacy lives on through his work.