Antoine-Laurent De Lavoisier

Abstract

Chemistry is the study of the composition of the molecular constitution of bodies and the phenomena they give rise to when they react with each other.
The ancient peoples living in the Mediterranean basin, although not knowing the principles of chemistry, successfully cultivated some of its applications.
Already in the 5th and 6th centuries BC, the pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus used rational reasoning to reach universal truth.
In 1700, with the birth of the Enlightenment, alchemy was abandoned. Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier clarified the concept of an element as a simple substance that cannot be broken down, and introduced a new chemical nomenclature that is still in use today.
Lavoisier is considered the father of modern chemistry.
The Russian chemist Dmitrij Ivanovic Mendeleev devised a system of classification of elements based on their atomic weight.
Watson and Crick's studies have shown that genetic information is transcribed into RNA molecules, ribonucleic acid, while DNA, deoxyribonucleic acid, maintains hereditary characteristics. Studies on RNA interference (RNAi) have led to new drug therapies. Gene silencing in eukaryotes has been shown to be useful in the development of therapies against viral infections and cancer.
The recent discovery of microRNAs has earned the 2024 Nobel Prize in Medicine to two American scientists Gary Ruvkun and Victor Ambros in the field of molecular biology, opening new avenues in the study of serious and widespread diseases such as colorectal cancer.