Marie-Anne Pierrette Paulze
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Marie-Anne Pierrette Paulze Lavoisier, later
Countess Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...
von Rumford, (20 January 1758 in
Montbrison, Loire Montbrison (; ) is a commune and a subprefecture of the Loire department in central France. Montbrison was the historical capital of the counts of Forez, and today it is the principal city in the Forez. The commune gives its name to the popul ...
,
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
– 10 February 1836) was a French chemist and noblewoman. Madame Lavoisier's first husband was the chemist and nobleman
Antoine Lavoisier Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier ( ; ; 26 August 17438 May 1794), When reduced without charcoal, it gave off an air which supported respiration and combustion in an enhanced way. He concluded that this was just a pure form of common air and that i ...
. She acted as his laboratory companion, using her linguistic skills to write up his work and bring it to an international audience. She also played a pivotal role in the translation of several scientific works, and was instrumental to the standardization of the
scientific method The scientific method is an Empirical evidence, empirical method for acquiring knowledge that has been referred to while doing science since at least the 17th century. Historically, it was developed through the centuries from the ancient and ...
.


Biography

Her father, Jacques Paulze, worked primarily as a parliamentary lawyer and financier. Most of his income came from running the
Ferme Générale The ''ferme générale'' (, "general farm") was, in ''ancien régime'' France, essentially an outsourced customs, excise and indirect tax operation. It collected duties on behalf of the King (plus hefty bonus fees for themselves), under renewable ...
(the General Farm) which was a private
consortium A consortium () is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations, or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a ...
of
financiers An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital the investor usually purchases some species of property. Types of i ...
who paid the French monarchy for the privilege of collecting certain taxes. Her mother, Claudine Thoynet Paulze, died in 1761, leaving behind Marie-Anne, then aged 3, and two sons. After her mother's death Paulze was placed in a
convent A convent is an enclosed community of monks, nuns, friars or religious sisters. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The term is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...
where she received her formal education. She was for a time a pupil of the artist,
Jacques-Louis David Jacques-Louis David (; 30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) was a French painter in the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s, his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in ...
. At the age of thirteen, Paulze received a
marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
proposal from the 50-year-old Count d'Amerval. Jacques Paulze tried to object to the union, but received threats about losing his job with the Ferme Générale. To indirectly thwart the marriage, Jacques Paulze made an offer to one of his colleagues to ask for his daughter's hand instead. This colleague was
Antoine Lavoisier Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier ( ; ; 26 August 17438 May 1794), When reduced without charcoal, it gave off an air which supported respiration and combustion in an enhanced way. He concluded that this was just a pure form of common air and that i ...
, a French nobleman and
scientist A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engag ...
. Lavoisier accepted the proposition, and he and Marie-Anne were married on 16 December 1771. Lavoisier was about 28, while Marie-Anne was about 13. Lavoisier continued to work for the Ferme-Générale but in 1775 was appointed
gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium ni ...
administrator, leading the couple to settle down at the Arsenal in Paris. Here, Lavoisier's interest in chemistry blossomed after having previously trained at the chemical laboratory of Guillaume François Rouelle, and, with the financial security provided by both his and Paulze's family, as well as his various titles and other business ventures, he was able to construct a state-of-the-art
chemistry Chemistry is the scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies the chemical elements that make up matter and chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules a ...
laboratory. Paulze soon became interested in his scientific research and began to participate in her husband's laboratory work actively. As her interest developed, she received formal training in the field from Jean Baptiste Michel Bucquet and Philippe Gingembre, both of whom were Lavoisier's colleagues at the time. The Lavoisiers spent most of their time together in the laboratory, working as a team conducting research on many fronts. She also assisted him by translating documents about chemistry from English to French. In fact, the majority of the research effort put forth in the laboratory was actually a joint effort between Paulze and her husband, with Paulze mainly playing the role of laboratory assistant.


French Revolution

In 1793 Lavoisier, due to his prominent position in the Ferme-Générale, was branded a traitor during the
Reign of Terror The Reign of Terror (French: ''La Terreur'', literally "The Terror") was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the French First Republic, First Republic, a series of massacres and Capital punishment in France, nu ...
by French revolutionaries. Paulze's father, another prominent Ferme-Générale member, was arrested on similar grounds. On 28 November 1793 Lavoisier surrendered to revolutionaries and was imprisoned at Port Libre. Throughout his imprisonment, Paulze visited Lavoisier regularly and fought for his release. She presented his case before , who was Lavoisier's accuser and a former member of the Ferme-Générale. She told of her husband's accomplishments as a scientist and his importance to the nation of France. Despite her efforts, Lavoisier was tried, convicted of treason, and executed on 8 May 1794 in Paris, at the age of 50. Jacques Paulze was also executed on the same day. After her husband's death, Paulze became bitter. She was bankrupt following the new government's confiscation of her money and property (which were eventually returned). In addition, the new government seized all of Lavoisier's notebooks and laboratory equipment. Despite these obstacles, Marie-Anne organized the publication of Lavoisier's final memoirs, ''Mémoires de Chimie'', a compilation of his papers and those of his colleagues demonstrating the principles of the new chemistry. The first volume contained work on heat and the formation of liquids, while the second dealt with the ideas of combustion, air,
calcination Calcination is thermal treatment of a solid chemical compound (e.g. mixed carbonate ores) whereby the compound is raised to high temperature without melting under restricted supply of ambient oxygen (i.e. gaseous O2 fraction of air), generally f ...
of metals, the action of acids, and the composition of water. In the original copy, Paulze wrote the preface and attacked revolutionaries and Lavoisier's contemporaries, whom she believed to be responsible for his death. This preface, however, was not included in the final publication. Nevertheless, her efforts secured her husband's legacy in the field of chemistry.


Later life

Paulze remarried
Benjamin Thompson Colonel (United Kingdom), Colonel Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (26 March 175321 August 1814), was an American-born British military officer, scientist and inventor. Born in Woburn, Massachusetts, he sup ...
in 1804, following a four-year courtship and engagement; she was his second wife. Thompson was born in Colonial Massachusetts in 1753 and was a veteran, as a loyalist, of the
American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
. In his youth, before becoming a merchant and soldier, he had attended lectures by Winthrop at
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
. In 1785, he travelled to
Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...
to become '' aide-de-camp'' to the
Prince-elector The prince-electors ( pl. , , ) were the members of the Electoral College of the Holy Roman Empire, which elected the Holy Roman Emperor. Usually, half of the electors were archbishops. From the 13th century onwards, a small group of prince- ...
, Charles Theodore. There he reorganised the army and established workhouses for the poor. He also created the ''
Englischer Garten The ''Englischer Garten'' (, ''English Garden'') is a large public park in the centre of Munich, Bavaria, stretching from the city centre to the northeastern city limits. It was created in 1789 by Sir Benjamin Thompson (1753–1814), later Coun ...
'' in
Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
in 1789, all the while continuing his scientific experiments. In 1791 he was elevated to Count of the Holy Roman Empire, taking the title of
Reichsgraf Imperial Count (, ) was a title in the Holy Roman Empire. During the medieval era, it was used exclusively to designate the holder of an imperial county, that is, a fief held directly (Imperial immediacy, immediately) from the emperor, rather th ...
von Rumford, after the town of Rumford in
New Hampshire New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
, where he was first married. By the time he had met the widowed Anne-Marie Lavoisier, he had become one of the most well-known physicists at the time. However, the marriage between the two was difficult and short-lived; they separated after three years. Paulze insisted throughout her life that she retain her first husband's last name, demonstrating her undying devotion to him. Rumford had moved to Paris where he continued his work until his death in 1814. He was buried at
Auteuil, Paris Auteuil () is the 61st and westernmost Quarters of Paris, quarter of Paris, France, located in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, 16th arrondissement, on the Rive Droite, Right Bank. It is adjacent to Passy to the northeast (administratively part ...
. Marie died very suddenly in her home in Paris on 10 February 1836, at the age of 78. She is buried in the cemetery of Pere-Lachaise in Paris.


Contributions to chemistry

Paulze accompanied Lavoisier in his lab during the day, making entries into his lab notebooks and sketching diagrams of his experimental designs. The training she had received from the painter
Jacques-Louis David Jacques-Louis David (; 30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) was a French painter in the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s, his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in ...
allowed her to accurately and precisely draw experimental apparatuses, which ultimately helped many of Lavoisier's contemporaries to understand his methods and results. Furthermore, she served as the editor of his reports. Together, the Lavoisiers rebuilt the field of chemistry, which had its roots in alchemy and at the time was a convoluted science dominated by George Stahl’s theory of
phlogiston The phlogiston theory, a superseded scientific theory, postulated the existence of a fire-like element dubbed phlogiston () contained within combustible bodies and released during combustion. The name comes from the Ancient Greek (''burnin ...
. In the eighteenth century, the idea of
phlogiston The phlogiston theory, a superseded scientific theory, postulated the existence of a fire-like element dubbed phlogiston () contained within combustible bodies and released during combustion. The name comes from the Ancient Greek (''burnin ...
(a fire-like element which is gained or released during a material's combustion) was used to describe the apparent property changes that substances exhibited when burned. Paulze, being a master in the English, Latin, and French language, was able to translate various works about phlogiston into French for her husband to read. Perhaps her most important translation was that of
Richard Kirwan Richard Kirwan, LL.D, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS, FRSE Membership of the Royal Irish Academy, MRIA (1 August 1733 – 22 June 1812) was an Irish geologist and chemist. He was one of the last supporters of the theory of Phlogiston theory, ...
's 'Essay on Phlogiston and the Constitution of Acids', which she both translated and critiqued, adding footnotes as she went along and pointing out errors in the chemistry made throughout the paper. Despite her contributions, she was not attributed as a translator in the original work but in later editions. She also translated works by
Joseph Priestley Joseph Priestley (; 24 March 1733 – 6 February 1804) was an English chemist, Unitarian, Natural philosophy, natural philosopher, English Separatist, separatist theologian, Linguist, grammarian, multi-subject educator and Classical libera ...
,
Henry Cavendish Henry Cavendish ( ; 10 October 1731 – 24 February 1810) was an English experimental and theoretical chemist and physicist. He is noted for his discovery of hydrogen, which he termed "inflammable air". He described the density of inflammable a ...
, and others for Lavoisier's personal use. This was an invaluable service to Lavoisier, who relied on Paulze's translation of foreign works to keep abreast of current developments in chemistry. In the case of phlogiston, it was Paulze's translation that convinced him the idea was incorrect, ultimately leading to his studies of combustion and his discovery of oxygen gas. Paulze was also instrumental in the 1789 publication of Lavoisier's groundbreaking '' Elementary Treatise on Chemistry'', which presented a unified view of chemistry as a field. This work proved pivotal in the progression of chemistry, as it presented the idea of conservation of mass as well as a list of elements and a new system for chemical nomenclature. Paulze contributed thirteen drawings that showed all the laboratory instrumentation and equipment used by the Lavoisiers in their experiments. She also kept strict records of the procedures followed, lending validity to the findings Lavoisier published. Before her death, Paulze was able to recover nearly all of Lavoisier's notebooks and chemical apparatuses, most of which survive in a collection at
Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...
, the largest of its kind outside of Europe. The year she died, a book was published, showing that Marie-Anne had a rich
theological Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of an ...
library with books which included versions of The Bible, St. Augustine's ''Confessions'', Jacques Saurin's ''Discours sur la Bible'',
Pierre Nicole Pierre Nicole (; 19 October 1625 – 16 November 1695) was a French writer and one of the most distinguished of the French Jansenists. Life Born in Chartres in 1625, Nicole was the son of a provincial barrister, who took in charge his education ...
's ''Essais de Morale'',
Blaise Pascal Blaise Pascal (19June 162319August 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic Church, Catholic writer. Pascal was a child prodigy who was educated by his father, a tax collector in Rouen. His earliest ...
's ''
Lettres provinciales The (''Provincial Letters'') are a series of eighteen letters written by French philosopher and theologian Blaise Pascal under the pseudonym Louis de Montalte. Written in the midst of the formulary controversy between the Jansenists and the ...
, '' Louis Bourdaloue's ''Sermons'',
Thomas à Kempis Thomas à Kempis, CRV ( – 25 July 1471; ; ) was a German-Dutch Catholic canon regular of the Augustinians and the author of '' The Imitation of Christ'', one of the best known Christian devotional books. His name means "Thomas of Kempen", ...
's '' De Imitatione Christi'', etc.


Artistic training and contributions

Paulze began receiving artistic instruction from the painter Jacques-Louis David in later 1785 or early 1786. Not long after, probably sometime in 1787, David painted a full-length double portrait of Paulze and her husband, foregrounding the former. Paulze's artistic training enabled her not only to document and illustrate her husband's experiments and publications (she even depicted herself as a participant in two drawings of her husband's experiments) but also, for example, to paint a portrait of Benjamin Franklin, one of the many scientific thinkers that she hosted in her salons. Later Paulze's ties with David were severed due to the radical politics of the latter in the context of the French Revolution.


References


Further reading

* Kawashima, Keiko "Paulze-Lavoisier, Marie-Anne-Pierrette", ''New Dictionnary of Scientific Biography'', Noretta Koertge ed., Detroit et al., Thomson & Gale, 8 vols, vol. 6, 2007: 44–45 *Bell, Madison Smartt. Lavoisier in the Year One. New York: Atlas Books, 2005. *Borgias, Adriane P. "Marie Anne Pierrette Paulze Lavoisier." Women in Chemistry and Physics, A Biobibliographic Sourcebook. Eds. Louise S. Grinstein, Rose K Rose, and Miriam H. Rafailovich. Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1993: 314–319. *Crawford, Franklin. "CU’s great treasure of science: Lavoisier collection is Mme. Lavoisier’s Achievement." Cornell Chronicle ew York 30 Jan. 2007. 12 Apr. 2007. *Eagle, Cassandra T. and Sloan, Jennifer.
Marie Anne Paulze Lavoisier: The Mother of Modern Chemistry.
The Chemical Educator 3.5 (1998): 1–18. 12 Apr. 2007 *Hoffmann, R.,
Mme Lavoisier
, ''American Scientist'' 90 (Jan–Feb, 2002) pp. 22–24. Bell, Madison Smartt. Lavoisier in the Year One. New York: Atlas Books, 2005. *Rayner-Canham, Geoffrey and Marelene.
Marie Anna Pierrette Paulze Lavoisier
" Women in Chemistry. Massachusetts: American Chemical Society and Chemical Heritage Foundation, 1998: 17–22.


External links

* The transcript page includes Marie Lavoisier's engraving of a gazometer, from '' Traité Élémentaire de Chimie''.
Fifteen engravings by Marie-Anne Pierrette Paulze, from ''Traité élémentaire de chimie''
*https://web.archive.org/web/20160303223209/http://xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/14858405/944536095/name/%EE%80%80lavoisier%EE%80%81.pdf {{DEFAULTSORT:Paulze, Marie-Anne Pierrette 1758 births 1836 deaths People from Montbrison, Loire 18th-century French chemists French women chemists French Roman Catholics French engravers French printmakers French women printmakers English–French translators French graphic artists Latin–French translators Linguists of Indo-European languages Linguists from France Pupils of Jacques-Louis David French scientific illustrators 18th-century French illustrators 19th-century French illustrators French women illustrators 18th-century French women scientists 19th-century French women scientists 19th-century French translators 19th-century French chemists Writers from Paris People of the French Revolution People of the First French Empire 18th-century French women writers 18th-century French writers 19th-century French women writers 18th-century French philosophers 19th-century French philosophers French women philosophers French expatriates in England French salon-holders Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery