ANTOINE LAVOISIER & THE CONSERVATION OF MATTER: Delving deeper than the thumbnail sketches often found in chemistry textbooks into the way this seminal 18th-century French chemist designed and conducted his experiments reveals a scientist very recognizable to practicing chemists today

Throughout the year, historians of science have gathered in small groups in various parts of the world to mark the 200th anniversary of the death of Antoine Lavoisier (May 8, 1794). They have presented to one another the latest results of their studies of his scientific career. Despite more than a century of previous scholarship, these historians believe that much still needs to be learned about his life, his achievements, his scientific style, and his ability to transform chemistry as it was practiced when he entered the field. Although a few practicing chemists joined these gatherings, chemists in general have probably been little concerned with the current state of historical scholarship about Lavoisier. Almost all chemists know that Lavoisier was one of the greatest chemists of all time; some regard him as the founder of the modern field. Not surprisingly, what most of them know about Lavoisier derives from brief summaries of his life and ...