Antoine Lavoisier

About Antoine Lavoisier

Antoine Lavoisier, ranked #324 in historical influence by MIT's Pantheon project, stands as a monumental figure in the history of science. A key figure of the Chemical Revolution in the late 18th century, he is often called the "father of modern chemistry." His most significant contribution was establishing the law of conservation of mass, proving that mass is neither created nor destroyed in a chemical reaction, and creating the first systematic approach to chemical nomenclature. His work, which defined the role of oxygen in combustion and helped reform chemical terminology, underpins virtually all subsequent chemistry.

Despite this foundational importance, Lavoisier's modern internet attention lags significantly behind his historical standing. In 2025, his Wikipedia page garnered 373K annualized views, placing his Attention Gap at approximately 1x relative to his historical rank-suggesting he is receiving attention roughly proportional to his #324 rank, but far less than figures ranked lower. For context, the highly influential chemist receives vastly less traffic than figures like Mark Twain (#543 importance, 2.3M views) or Harry S. Truman (#592 importance, 2.7M views), who are ranked hundreds of places lower in the Pantheon index.

Interest in Lavoisier appears stable, though slightly waning, as indicated by an 8.9% year-over-year decrease in pageviews. However, his quarterly momentum was positive (+1% from Q1 to Q3), suggesting a small, recent uptick in engagement that has not yet reversed the longer-term decline in digital attention.