Marie-Anne Paulze Lavoisier

"My husband and I were about to conduct an experiment on a poisonous gas, but he went for a walk and hasn't returned! I'm worried about those hooligans who follow Marat!"

―Madame Lavoisier to Arno Dorian, 1790s

Marie-Anne Pierette Paulze Lavoisier (1758 – 1836) was a French chemist and the wife of Antoine Lavoisier, acting as his lab assistant and contributing to his work.

Biography

Marie-Anne Pierette Paulze was born in 1758. At the age of 13, she married Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier, the chemist famous for confirming the law of conservation of mass. Interested in his research, Madame Lavoisier began to study chemistry herself, leading her to actively participate in her husband's laboratory work. In addition to her work in the laboratory, she translated books from English to French, allowing both to further their scientific knowledge.

During the French Revolution, Lavoisier was kidnapped, leading a distraught Madame Lavoisier to request the help of the French Assassin Arno Dorian. Arno succeeded in this mission, safely returning Lavoisier to his residence and recovering the poison bomb formula that Jean-Paul Marat's followers had stolen.

Following her husband's arrest and execution, she protested vehemently against the arbitrary nature of the proceedings. She subsequently attended to her husband's posterity, gathering his papers and organizing the posthumous publication of his memoirs.

Behind the scenes

Marie-Anne Paulze Lavoisier is a historical figure who appears in the 2014 video game Assassin's Creed: Unity, where she is voiced by the Canadian actor Mary Katherine Harvey.

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed: Unity