Where can I find out more about Antoine Lavoisier's experimental philosophy?

How did Antoine Lavoisier use the scientific method in his research in experiments?
Chris

Lavoisier made many seminal contributions to experimental science (not just to chemistry), and your question can't be answered adequately in this space. Like John Dalton (another 'father of modern chemistry') Lavoisier's greatest strength was his ability to find connections between experimental studies done by others. He's best remembered for his use of quantitative measurements to show that mass is conserved in chemical reactions, his lucid explanation of fire as a reaction between fuel and air (combustion was previously believed to involve a mysterious invisible fluid called 'phlogiston'), and his pioneering investigations of respiration and fermentation.

You'll have no trouble finding detailed analyses of Lavoisier's experimental work and biographical information at your local library and on the Web. Here is a partial list of references to look for that will answer your question:

Antoine Lavoisier - The Next Crucial Year : Or, the Sources of His Quantitative Methods in Chemistry

Frederic Lawrence Holmes, Princeton U. Press, 1998. ISBN: 0691016879

Antoine Lavoisier: Founder of Modern Chemistry (Great Minds of Science)

Lisa Yount, Enslow Publishing, 1997.

Antoine Lavoisier : Science, Administration, and Revolution (Cambridge Science Biographies)

Arthur Donovan, Cambridge University Press, 1996. ISBN: 052156672X

Lavoisier : Chemist, Biologist, Economist (Chemical Sciences in Society Series)

Jean Pierre Poirier, Rebecca Balinski (Translator), University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997. ISBN: 0812233654

Some web sites to look at:

• Carmen Giunta at LeMoyne has posted the original text of Lavoisier's refutation of the phlogiston theory and his memoir on combustion.
• A brief biography of Lavoisier is available on DuPont's web site.

Author: Fred Senese senese@antoine.frostburg.edu