By: Anonymous Antoine Lavoisier (1743-1794) Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier (lah vwah ZYAY) was one of the best-known French scientists and was an important government official. His theories of combustion, his development of a way to classify the elements and the first modern textbook of chemistry led to his being known as the father of modern chemistry. He contributed to much of the research in the field of chemistry. He is quoted for saying, "Nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is transformed." Lavoisier was born in Paris, France on Aug. 26, 1743. When he was eleven years old he attended a college called Maza