Antoine Lavoisier

Jussieu, Condillac, Lacaille, Nollet and Guettard all taught him as a young man. Together with Berthollet, Fourcroy and Guyton de Morveau he established a consistent sytem of nomenclature in chemistry, which still underpins the science. He married Paulze when she was 13; she went on assist and collaborate with him. Working together with Laplace he demonstrated (with guinea pigs) that respiration was a form of combustion. His rival Priestley corresponded with him, he installed lightning-conductors on a church roof with Franklin, and with Haüy determined the exact weight of the kilogram.