tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36768584.post5419575269044329330..comments2024-03-03T18:49:34.382-05:00Comments on Omics! Omics!: Relearning ChemistryKeith Robisonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04765318239070312590noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36768584.post-79548423439496439982014-01-14T05:04:46.780-05:002014-01-14T05:04:46.780-05:00Lavoisier was guillotined by Marat. That is what I...Lavoisier was guillotined by Marat. That is what I call real history :)<br /><br />"As the French Revolution gained momentum from 1789 on, Lavoisier's world inexorably collapsed around him. Attacks mounted on the deeply unpopular Ferme Générale, and it was eventually suppressed in 1791. In 1792 Lavoisier was forced to resign from his post on the Gunpowder Commission and to move from his house and laboratory at the Royal Arsenal. On 8 August 1793, all the learned societies, including the Academy of Sciences, were suppressed.<br />It is difficult to assess Lavoisier's own attitude to the political turmoil. Like so many intellectual liberals, he felt that the Ancien Régime could be reformed from the inside if only reason and moderation prevailed. Characteristically, one of his last major works was a proposal to the National Convention for the reform of French education. He tried to remain aloof from the political cockpit, no doubt fearful and uncomprehending of the violence he saw therein. However, on 24 Nov. 1793, the arrest of all the former tax gatherers was ordered. He was branded a traitor by the Convention under Maximilien de Robespierre during the Reign of Terror, in 1794. He had also intervened on behalf of a number of foreign-born scientists including mathematician Joseph Louis Lagrange, granting them exception to a mandate stripping all foreigners of possessions and freedom.[14] Lavoisier was tried, convicted, and guillotined on 8 May 1794 in Paris, at the age of 50.[15]<br />Lavoisier and the other former tax gatherers were formally brought to trial on 8 May 1794. According to a (probably apocryphal) story, the appeal to spare his life so that he could continue his experiments was cut short by the judge: "La République n'a pas besoin de savants ni de chimistes ; le cours de la justice ne peut être suspendu." ("The Republic needs neither scientists nor chemists; the course of justice cannot be delayed.")[16] Lavoisier was convicted with summary justice of having plundered the people and the treasury of France, of having adulterated the nation's tobacco with water, and of having supplied the enemies of France with huge sums of money from the national treasury. Lavoisier, along with 27 of his former colleagues, was guillotined on the same day. Lavoisier's importance to science was expressed by Joseph Louis Lagrange who lamented the beheading by saying: "Il ne leur a fallu qu’un moment pour faire tomber cette tête, et cent années peut-être ne suffiront pas pour en reproduire une semblable." ("It took them only an instant to cut off this head, and one hundred years might not suffice to reproduce its like.")[17][18]"homolog.ushttp://homolog.usnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36768584.post-77426086950094883582014-01-14T02:01:17.863-05:002014-01-14T02:01:17.863-05:00I was going to homeschool my son in chemistry this...I was going to homeschool my son in chemistry this year (despite my having had only 3 chemistry courses in my life: a non-AP chem class in high school 45 years ago, a graduate protein structure course, and a biochem class that talked mainly about replication, transcription, and translation). But we ended up having him take an online AP chem course instead, as it was more likely to get him to stick to a regular schedule, and I wouldn't have to figure out chem labs to assign.<br /><br />Instead, I'm trying to homeschool him in group theory (which I had only 38 years ago and haven't used since).<br /><br />See <br />http://gasstationwithoutpumps.wordpress.com/2013/08/26/i-wont-teach-chemistry/Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com