Antoine Lavoisier, Letter to Benjamin Franklin (Feb 2, 1790) as quoted by I. Bernard Cohen, Revolution in Science (1985)
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Here, then: a revolution [in science and chemistry] has taken place in an important part of human knowledge since your departure from Europe... I will consider this revolution to be well advanced and even completely accomplished if you range yourself with us. ...After having brought you up to date on what is happening in chemistry, it would be well to speak to you about our political revolution. We regard it as done and without any possibility of return to the old order.

— Antoine Lavoisier on Scientific revolution

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "Here, then: a revolution [in science and chemistry] has taken place in an important part of human knowledge since your departure from Europe... I will consider this revolution to be well advanced and even completely accomplished if you range yourself with us. ...After having brought you up to date on what is happening in chemistry, it would be well to speak to you about our political revolution. We regard it as done and without any possibility of return to the old order." in the context of "Antoine Lavoisier, Letter to Benjamin Franklin (Feb 2, 1790) as quoted by I. Bernard Cohen, Revolution in Science (1985)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Scientific revolution" (Quotes, L) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Antoine Lavoisier

About Antoine Lavoisier

Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier (26 August 1743 – 8 May 1794) was a French intellectual and nobleman, widely regarded as the founder of modern chemistry.