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For her husband’s classic 1789 summation, Traité Élémentaire de Chimie [Elementary Treatise of Chemistry] , the first modern
chemistry textbook—a pivotal work that presented a unified view of chemistry and a new and improved system of scientific
nomenclature—Marie-Anne provided original sketches, watercolors, and 13 precise copperplate illustrations that showed the
laboratory instrumentation and equipment used by the Lavoisiers in their experiments. The Lavoisier chemistry textbook
established a new definition of ‘element’ as well as a summation of the 23 elements science had identified up to that time.
For each experiment, Marie-Anne engraved schematic drawings of equipment and outcomes and labeled parts alphabetically to
explain the function of each mechanical element. She also kept strict records of the procedures, lending validity to the findings
Antoine published.

In 1792, during the Reign of Terror that followed the French Revolution, the Lavoisiers were forced out of their home and lab.
The following year, revolutionaries halted the work of scientific academies. Presented with an arrest warrant on November 24,
1793, Antoine was apprehended by extremists who tried and convicted him at a Jacobin tribunal based on trumped up charges
made by Jean-Paul Marat, who bore a grudge against Antoine for rejecting him for membership in the Academy of Sciences.
Marie-Anne was orphaned and widowed on May 8, 1794, when her father and husband were guillotined for treason. She fled
France and served 65 days in the Bastille, the infamous Paris prison.

Within the year, the Republic restored Marie Anne’s estate and returned the confiscated scientific library with this note,
“To the widow of Lavoisier, who was falsely convicted.” She worked to protect and extend Antoine’s reputation as a chemist and
prepared a two-volume set of Antoine’s work, Mémoires de Chimie [Memoirs of Chemistry]. The preface includes a condemnation
of six men she felt could have come to her husband’s aid during his imprisonment that was so scathing no publisher would print
the book; however, in 1803 she printed it privately and distributed copies. Two years later, she removed the preface, republished
the book, and issued free copies to French scientists.
Marie-Anne gave up scientific experimentation and dedicated herself to business and philanthropic causes. Before her death in
1836, she was able to recover nearly all of Antoine’s notebooks and chemical apparatuses, most of which survive in a collection
at Cornell University, the largest of its kind outside of Europe. No diary or memoir exists to clarify Marie-Anne’s role in Antoine’s
experiments or her contributions to chemistry. All that remains of her personal life are a self-portrait she painted in her teens, her
portrait of American scientist and statesman, Benjamin Franklin, and a famous oil painting by Jacques-Louis David that’s housed in
the Metropolitan Museum of Art showing her and Antoine at a table covered with their experiments.
~ Martha Abell Shrader
SCC Soft Computer
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It was translated into English by Robert Kerr in 1790 under the title Elements of Chemistry in a New Systematic Order containing All the Modern Discoveries.

This magnificent double portrait dates to 1788, when the artist was the
standard-bearer of French Neoclassicism. For many years, this painting was
listed simply as Portrait of M. Lavoisier in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
files, neglecting the fact that the painter Jacques-Louis David placed Mme
Lavoisier gloriously in the center of the canvas, staring directly at the viewer.
This placement of the wife in a posture physically above the husband is
significant and somewhat atypical by late 18th century conventional standards
of depicting a married couple in portraiture.
Anyone familiar with Lavoisier knows Jacques-Louis David’s famous painting
of the couple. Antoine sits writing, while Marie-Anne leans up against his
shoulder. He turns to look at her, more than just distracted. One of her
hands rests on Antoine’s shoulder; her other hand hovers next to his writing
hand as she gazes out at us with a faint smile. David knew this couple well.

In our Q1 2019 issue of SCC Quarterly,
we’ll continue our discussion of the

contributions made by Power Teams
in the Laboratory.