Antoine Lavoisier: Science, Administration and Revolution / Edition 1

by Arthur Donovan, David Knight

Overview

First published in 1993, this biography, first published in 1993, represents a comprehensive, accessible account of the great eighteenth-century French chemist and administrator, Antoine Lavoisier. Historians of science know Lavoisier as a founder of modern chemistry. Students of the French Revolution know him as an important financier and administrator in the final decades of the old regime and as the most famous scientist to be guillotined during the Terror. This volume devotes equal attention to the creation of his oxygen theory of combustion and to his efforts as a public administrator before and during the Revolution. Lavoisier was a historical figure of extraordinary importance. His biography illuminates the rise of modern science and the history of the French Revolution. Antoine Lavoisier provides its reader with a vivid, informed image of the man, his achievement and the tumultuous age in which he lived.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521566728
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	04/11/1996
Series:	Cambridge Science Biographies
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 8.98(h) x 0.94(d)

Table of Contents

List of illustrations; General editor's preface; Acknowledgements; Introduction; Part I. Ambition and Public Service: 1743–1775: 1. The barristers of Paris; 2. The republic of science; 3. Experimental physics; 4. The chemistry of salts; 5. The company of tax farmers; Part II. Consolidation and Contestation: 6. A new theory of combustion; 7. The campaign for French chemistry; 8. Gunpowder and agriculture. 9. Mesmerism and public opinion; Part III. Revolutionary Politics: 10. Representation, legislation and finance; 11. The republic of virtue; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"...a much needed synthesis of recent work focused on Lavoisier and the Chemical Revolution. Donovan's account is authoritative, splendidly written, and now the definitive introduction in English to the dramatic life and work of the father of modern chemistry...should be accessible to the non-specialist and can stand as a reliable first pass through the intricacies of the Chemical Revolution." James E. McClellan, III, American Historical Review

"...provides an elegantly written synopsis of the existing scholarship on Lavoisier and on 18th century France and its sciences...surely offers the most comprehensive and accessible account of the self-acclaimed founder of the Chemical Revolution." Richard L. Kremer, Science

"...a comprehensive but accessible account of the life and career of the leader of the eighteenth-century chemical revolution from his birth on August 26, 1743, to his untimely death on the guillotine as one of the Reign of Terror's most famous victims on May 8, 1794." George B. Kauffman, The Chemical Intelligencer

From the Publisher