Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier (1743-1794), French chemist, is considered the founder of modern chemistry. He was instrumental in the use of accurate measurement in chemistry for the study of the composition of materials, oxidation and other combustion reactions. Lavoisier deduced that air consisted of oxygen and nitrogen. His book Methods of Chemical Nomenclature of 1787 set the method of naming substances by their composition of elements, which is still used today.