Lavoisier was executed for raising taxes, not for his chemistry
Evidence
Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier (1743 94), French chemist, described by Engels as “the first to place all chemistry, which in its phlogistic form had stood on its head, squarely on its feet”. Lavoisier was executed, not for his ideas, but because in order to finance his experiments he had obtained the hated post of fermier-general of taxes. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 2671
Categorization
Category: Factual Claims
- CANDY: This is a light, surprising historical tidbit — a genius chemist guillotined over tax farming, not ideas — that lands instantly in conversation.