Meet Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier
Born: August 26, 1743
Died: May 8, 1794 at the guillotine.

Born in Paris, France Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier became known as the Father of Modern Chemistry. He didn't start out as a scientist though, he actually became a lawyer. He was licensed to practice law at age 23 but his love for science drew him away from that. Lavoisier's attended the College Mazarin from 1754 to 1761, studying chemistry, botany, astronomy, and mathematics. His two favorite subjects were chemistry and mineralogy. He served on the Royal Gunpowder Administration which led to improvements in the making of gunpowder and the use of chemistry in the area of agriculture.

Now at this time in the world people basically believed the world consisted of four elements: earth, air, water and fire. In order to learn more about the air he studied how things burned. He used Joseph Priestley's ideas as a basis for some of his studies. Mr. Lavoisier discovered that not all the air was burnt up during the burning process.

The only part that was burnt was OXYGEN , as he named it. The part that was left behind he called "azote" which we know as NITROGEN. This was a major discovery!

Once he realized that the air was made up of different gases he decided to try and find out what other things were made of. He discovered water was made up of HYDROGEN and oxygen. He also discovered what other things, like alcohol, were made of by burning them in air. We also get the scientific term ELEMENT from Mr. Lavoisier. "A substance that cannot be broken down any further".

Mr. Lavoisier took the beliefs of his day - that matter consisted of basically four elements: fire, water, earth and air and explored them in a way that gave us modern chemistry. On of his greatest contributions was a book he wrote on the breakdown of those areas. He also studied things like the properties of heat, what form and shape matter can take and processes like breathing.

Mr. Lavoisier was put to death at the guillotine in May of 1994 at the age of 51.

Some of His Achievements

Activities:

Experiment:
Do this experiment to show how oxygen is necessary for things to burn. You will need:

Put a piece of paper in the bottom. Drop a lighted match into the jar. When the fire is going good put the lid on the jar. What happens as the oxygen is slowly burnt up? DO THIS ONLY WITH ADULT SUPERVISION!!

The first thing you will want to do is get a folder or notebook to keep track of your papers. Then gather your supplies.

Things you will need during this study:

Joseph Priestley was the oldest of six children. He was born in England and was adopted by his aunt when his mother died. He became a clergyman, teacher, librarian and scientist.

As a boy he went to a local school and learned Greek, Latin and Hebrew. He had to quit school, when as a teenager, he caught tuberculosis. It made him weak and ill but he decided to continue learning at home. He taught himself German, French and Italian as well as studying things like geometry and algebra.

After he got older his health improved and he was able to go on to higher schooling. He became interested in science and he was the one to discover what water is made of. He realized it was actually made of two gases oxygen and hydrogen. Priestly originally called oxygen depholigisticated air, it was later renamed oxygen by another scientist, Antoine-Laurent Laviosier. He discovered this by heating mercuric oxide. He used the methods discovered by a scientist named Scheele. Priestly also proved that there were billions of molecules in one tiny drop of water. He laid the groundwork for the science of Chemistry and for scientist like Laviosier to do their work.

Joseph Priestley knew Benjamin Franklin. It was Mr. Franklin who got him interested in electricity. He also was the first person to realize plants gave off oxygen and took in carbon dioxide. Joseph Priestley was a Unitarian and was the one who brought Unitarianism to the states. He came to the United States as a result of having to flee England because he supported both the American and French Revolution.

Joseph Priestley's Achievements

Activities

Experiment

Make Carbonated Soda

You will need:

What you do:

What Happened?
You should see little bubbles forming as the lemon juice REACTS with the baking soda. This reaction is producing CARBON DIOXIDE. The secret behind soda pop. The scientific term for this type of reaction is ENDOTHERMIC. Now enjoy your homemade soda pop.

Robert Hooke was taught at home in his younger years. When he was older he attended Westminster School and Oxford. Robert even thought about becoming an artist and was apprenticed to one for awhile.

Mr. Hooke was one of the most important scientists to have lived but he is often overlooked. One of his first major contributions to science was to update the Janssen MICROSCOPE. Mr. Hooke replaced the lenses in the Janssen microscope with a twinklen lens from a telescope making the microscope more powerful.

With his stronger microscope he studied thin slices of cork and noticed they were made of up tiny box like shapes. These shapes reminded him of a MONK”S CELL so that is what he named them and the term "cell" is used today to describe the basis of all living things. Mr. Hooke had discovered plant cells.

Mr. Hooke was also the first person to look at fossils under a microscope and realize they were once living things. This was a major milestone in science.

In 1665 he was made a professor of geometry at Gresham College, London, where he taught for 30 years.

Robert Hooke’s Achievements

Activities

Louis Agassiz was born in a Swiss village. He loved observing animals of all kinds. When he was older he studied medicine but his real love was always zoology. Through his study of fish, living fish and fossils of dead fish he discovered an interest in geology.

He became a professor of natural history in Switzerland. He traveled to Boston in 1846 to give lectures. Agassiz later became a professor of natural history at Harvard. He lived in the United States until he died.

Agassiz went on many expeditions though out the North & South American continents. Agassiz Lake is named after him. It is a huge prehistoric lake that covered parts of two states and into Canada. On one expedition he actually lived in a hut on the very edge of a glacier. He did a lot research into the ice age. Agassiz believed that instead of a great flood there was an instant ice age. He hunted for evidence of this in Brazil with no success.

Jean Louis Agassiz's Achievements

Activities