Named for Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier (1743–1794), father of modern chemistry. In a memoir presented to the Paris Academy in 1777 he explained combustion as the result of the combination of a burning substance with oxygen (that name being due to Lavoisier). In his 1789 Trait’e élémentaire de Chimie he gave a list of simple substances that could not be further decomposed by any known process, thus providing the concept of a chemical element. He was also associated with committees on hygiene, coinage and public educatio His membership in the Ferme Générale caused the authorities to be suspicious of him during the French Revolution, and he was condemned to the guillotine. The day after the execution, Lagrange {see planet  (1006)} lamented: “It required only a moment to sever that head, and perhaps a century will not be sufficient to produce another like it”. (M 26933) _ _.