Antoine de Lavoisier - Execution

"A scientist? The Revolution does not need scientists”…

On 8 May 1794, a man named Antoine Laurent de Lavoisier was beheaded. His crime had been to be wealthy thanks to having been noble and one of the "farmers generals" ie the tax collectors...

But Lavoisier was a lot more than the average tax collector. He was a scientist and a thinker. His developments led to what is now considered the scientific method and modern chemistry...

During his trial, he begged to be given a little bit of time so he could complete an ongoing experiment. To no avail... "A scientist? The Revolution does not need scientists”… That was the response...

A fellow scientist wrote: “they cut off his head in seconds, but a century might not be sufficient to produce such a similar one”.