The law states that matter cannot be made or destroyed. Lavoisier was known for his experimentation skills. Antoine Lavoisier was born in Paris, France, and lived from 1743-1794. Chemists had long recognized that burning, like breathing, required air, and they also knew that iron rusts only upon exposure to air. He was known for his skills in experimentation and loved to separate the oxygen molecule from HgO. Antoine Lavoisier. Antoine Lavoisier, in full Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, (born August 26, 1743, Paris, France—died May 8, 1794, Paris), prominent French chemist and leading figure in the 18th-century chemical revolution who developed an experimentally based theory of the chemical reactivity of oxygen and coauthored the modern system for naming chemical substances. He also hints at the rearrangement of matter in reactions. Matter rearranged, but never disappeared. He used this experiment to help himself come up with the Law of Conservation. He was born into a rich family, and had gained a lot of money upon his mother's death. One of his favorite experiments being turing HgO into Hg+O. Antoine Lavoisier and the Atomic Theory Born in 1743, Antoine Lavoisier is credited as being the first person to make use of the balance. Lavoisier found that mass is conserved in a chemical reaction. Surprisingly, he was dissuaded away from the sciences by his father at first, as his father claimed it was just a hobby. Law of Conservation of Matter (Antoine Lavoisier) The first breakthrough in the study of chemical reactions resulted from the work of the French chemist Antoine Lavoisier between 1772 and 1794. Antoine Lavoisier - Antoine Lavoisier - Phlogiston theory: After being elected a junior member of the Academy of Sciences, Lavoisier began searching for a field of research in which he could distinguish himself.