As the French Revolution gained momentum, attacks…
May 1794 CE
In 1792 Lavoisier had been forced to resign from his post on the Gunpowder Commission and to move from his house and laboratory at the Royal Arsenal.
All the learned societies, including the Academy of Sciences, had been suppressed at the request of Abbé Grégoire on August 8, 1793.
The arrest of all the former tax farmers had been ordered on November 24, 1793.
Lavoisier and the other Farmers General face nine accusations of defrauding the state of money owed to it, and of adding water to tobacco before selling it.
Lavoisier has drafted their defense, refuting the financial accusations, reminding the court of how they had maintained a consistently high quality of tobacco.
The court is however inclined to believe that by condemning them and seizing their goods, it will recover huge sums for the state.
Lavoisier is convicted and guillotined on May 8 1794 in Paris, at the age of fifty, along with his twenty-seven co-defendants.