Execution of Antoine Lavoisier
- When
- 1793–1794
- Where
- Port Royal convent, where Lavoisier surrendered for questioning on 30 November 1793; Commission on weights and measures; Paris, site of the conviction and execution
- Episodes
- 3
Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier, the French nobleman and chemist central to the 18th-century chemical revolution, was arrested after the order of 24 November 1793 for the arrest of all former tax farmers, and was convicted and guillotined in Paris on 8 May 1794 at age 50, together with 27 co-defendants.
Episodes
- Order for the arrest of the former tax farmers
On 24 November 1793 the arrest of all former tax farmers was ordered, the measure that ensnared Lavoisier.
- Removal from the commission on weights and measures
On 23 December 1793 Lavoisier, Laplace, and several other members were removed from the commission on weights and measures for political reasons.
- Conviction and guillotining of Lavoisier and 27 co-defendants
Lavoisier was convicted and guillotined in Paris on 8 May 1794, aged 50, along with his 27 co-defendants.
Background and detail
Background. Lavoisier was a French nobleman and chemist central to the 18th-century chemical revolution, with major influence on the histories of chemistry and biology. In 1792 he was forced to resign from the Gunpowder Commission and to leave his house and laboratory at the Royal Arsenal. He briefly went into hiding before surrendering at the Port Royal convent for questioning on 30 November 1793.
Legal Proceedings. On 24 November 1793 the arrest of all former tax farmers was ordered. Lavoisier had already been removed from the commission on weights and measures on 23 December 1793, alongside mathematician Pierre-Simon Laplace and several other members, for political reasons. He was ultimately convicted and guillotined on 8 May 1794 in Paris, at the age of 50, along with his 27 co-defendants.
Revolutionary Context. The execution occurred during the Reign of Terror, a period of the French Revolution marked by massacres and numerous public executions following the creation of the First Republic. The Revolutionary Tribunal, established by the National Convention on 10 March 1793, initially acquitted about half of those arrested, but the acquittal rate dropped to about a quarter after the Law of 22 Prairial was enacted on 10 June 1794.
People involved
- Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier · Convicted chemist and former tax farmer, guillotined
- Pierre-Simon Laplace · Mathematician removed with Lavoisier from the commission on weights and measures
Sources
- Antoine Lavoisier Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-27
- Reign of Terror Wikipedia
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.