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This is meant to be a subsection within the Biography section of the main article entitled Antoine Lavoisier
Lavoisier as a Humanitarian
Research benefitting the public good
While Lavoisier is commonly known for his contributions to the sciences, he also dedicated a significant portion of his fortune and work toward benefitting the public[1][2][3][4]. Lavoisier was a humanitarian – he cared deeply about the people in his country and often concerned himself with improving the livelihood of the population by agriculture, industry, and the sciences[2]. The first instance of this occurred in 1765, when the French Academy of Sciences when he submitted an essay on improving urban street lighting[2][3]Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page)..
He additionally was interested in air quality, and spent some time studying the health risks associated with gunpowder’s effect on the air[3]. In 1772, he performed a study on how to reconstruct the Hôtel-Dieu hospital, after it had been damaged by fire, in a way that would allow proper ventilation and clean air throughout[4].
At the time, the prisons in Paris were known to be largely unlivable and the prisoners’ treatment inhumane[1]. Lavoisier took part in investigations in 1780 (and again in 1791) on the hygiene in prisons and had made suggestions to improve living conditions, which were largely ignored[1][4].
Once a part of the Academy, Lavoisier also held his own competitions to push the direction of research towards bettering the public and his own work[3]. One such project he proposed in 1793 was to better public health on the “insalubrious arts.”
Sponsorship of the sciences
Lavoisier had a vision of public education having roots in “scientific sociability” and philanthropy[3].
Lavoisier gained a vast majority of his income through buying stock in the General Farm, which allowed him to work on science full time, live comfortably, and allowed him to contribute financially to better the community[4]. (It would also contribute to his demise during the Reign of Terror many years later[5].)
It was very difficult to secure public funding for the sciences at the time, and additionally not very suitable financially for a living, so Lavoisier used his wealth to open a very expensive and sophisticated laboratory in France so that aspiring scientists could study without the barriers of securing funding for their research[1][4].
He also pushed for public education in the sciences. He founded two organizations, Lycée and Musée des Arts et Métiers which were created to serve as educational tools for the public. Funded by the wealthy and noble, Lycée regularly taught courses to the public beginning in 1793[3].
Notes
- ^ a b c d Duveen, Dennis I. (1965). Supplement to a bibliography of the works of Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, 1743-1794. London: Dawsons.
- ^ a b c McKie, Douglas (1935). Bibliographic Details Antoine Lavoisier, the father of modern chemistry, by Douglas McKie ... With an introduction by F. G. Donnan. London: V. Gollancz ltd.
- ^ a b c d e f Bibliographic Details Lavoisier in perspective / edited by Marco Beretta. Munich: Deutsches Museum. 2005.
- ^ a b c d e Bell, Madison Smart (2005). Lavoisier in the year one. New York: W.W. Norton.
- ^ McKie, Douglas (1952). Antoine Lavoisier: scientist, economist, social reformer. New York: Schuman.