Marie-Anne Pierette Paulze (20 January 1758 – 10 February 1836), was born in the town of Montbrison, in a small province in France. She is most commonly known as the wife of Antoine Lavoisier (Madame Lavoisier) but many do not know of her accomplishments in the field of chemistry. Her father, Jacques Paulze, was of French descent and worked primarily as a parliamentary lawyer and financier.

Most of his income came from running the Ferme Générale (The General Farm) which was a private consortium of financiers who paid the French monarchy for the privilege of collecting certain taxes. Her mother, Claudine Thoynet Paulze, died in 1761, leaving behind not only Marie-Anne but two other sons. After her mother’s death Marie-Anne was placed in a convent where she received her formal education.

At the age of thirteen Marie-Anne received a marriage proposal from the Count d’Amerval, who was nearly three times her age. Jacques Paulze tried to object to the union, but received threats about losing his job with the Ferme Générale. To indirectly thwart the marriage, Jacque Paulze made an offer to one of his colleagues to ask for his daughter’s hand instead.

This colleague was Antoine Lavoisier, a French nobleman and scientist. Lavoisier accepted the proposition, and he and Marie-Anne were married on 16 December 1771. Lavoisier was about 28.

Lavoisier continued to work for the Ferme-Générale but in 1775 was appointed gunpowder administrator, leading the couple to settle down at the Arsenal in Paris. Here, Lavoisier’s interest in chemistry blossomed, and, with the financial security provided by both his and Marie-Anne’s family, as well as his various titles and other business ventures, he was able to construct a state-of-the-art chemistry laboratory. Marie-Anne soon became interested in his scientific research and began to actively participate in his laboratory work.

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