Paulze, Marie-Anne Pierrette

CHEMIST, TRANSLATOR (FRANCE)
BORN 20 Jan 1758, Montbrison, Loire - DIED 10 Feb 1836, Paris
GRAVE LOCATION Paris: Père Lachaise, Rue du Repos 16 (division 13, ligne 02, W, 22)

Marie-Anne Paulze was the daughter of the lawyer and financier Jacques Paulze, who directed the Ferme-Générale. Her mother Claudine Thoynet died in 1761. She was educated in a convent. When she was thirteen the 50-years-old Count d'Amerval asked for her hand. To avoid this marriage her father asked his colleague Antoine Lavoisier to propose to her. They were married soon afterwards.

In 1775 Lavoisier left the Ferme-Générale after he was appointed gunpowder administrator. They moved to the Arsenal in Paris, where Lavoisier created a chemical laboratory to pursue his interest in chemistry. Marie-Anne assusted him in his work and translated many document for him from English to French. She was trained by Jean Baptiste Michel Bucquet and Philippe Gingembre. Earlier training by the painter Jacques-Louis David allowed her to draw experimental apparatuses very precisely when she was documenting Lavoisier's work.

On 28 November 1793, during The Reign of Terror, Lavoisier was arrested because he was seen as a traitor. He was imprisoned at Port-Libre, where Marie-Anne visited him frequently. He was convicted for treason and executed on 8 May 1795. Her father was executed on the same day.

Although Lavoisier's property, including his notebooks and equipment were confiscated she used his work and that of his collegues to publish "Mémoires de Chimie". In 1804 she married the physicist Benjamin Thompson. But the marriage was unhappy and lasted only three years. For the rest of her life she held on to the name Lavoisier. In later years she recovered most of his notebooks and apparatuses. She suddenly died in Paris in 1836.

Family
• Husband: Rumford, Benjamin Thompson, Count (1804-) (divorce or separation)

Related persons
• was pupil of David, Jacques-Louis
• was painted by David, Jacques-Louis
• painted Franklin, Benjamin

Images

The grave of Marie-Anne Pierrette Paulze at Père Lachaise, Paris.
Picture by Androom (02 Nov 2018)

 

The grave of Marie-Anne Pierrette Paulze at Père Lachaise, Paris.
Picture by Androom (02 Nov 2018)

 

Sources
Marie-Anne Paulze Lavoisier - Wikipedia


Paumgartner, Bernhard

Published: 17 Nov 2018
Last update: 29 May 2022