Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier (1743-1794) has been called the founder of modern chemistry. Among his important contributions were the application of the balance and the principle of conservation of mass to chemistry, the explanation of combustion and respiration in terms of combination with oxygen rather than loss of phlogiston, and a reform of chemical nomenclature.
His "Elements of Chemistry" (Traité Élementaire de Chimie), written in 1789, was a tremendously influential synthesis of his work.
