A constellation with connections to both scientific advancement and the horrors of war and revolution scoots low across the southern sky tonight. Fornax is in the southeast at nightfall. It’s not much to look at – its three brightest stars form a faint wedge that aims toward the south. In fact, it’s so feeble and so far south that it wasn’t drawn until the mid-1700s.

Fornax was one of 14 constellations created by French astronomer Nicolas Louis de la Caille, after he mapped southern skies from South Africa. All of the stars of the new constellations are so far south that they were barely visible from Europe – or not visible at all.

La Caille named Fornax for a chemical furnace, in honor of fellow scientist Antoine Lavoisier. Lavoisier had developed accurate descriptions of how things burn and how chemical reactions take place.

Lavoisier used his knowledge to develop gunpowder for the French government. One of his employees later emigrated to the newly formed United States, where he founded the DuPont company. One of his first jobs was developing gunpowder for the American government.

Lavoisier also worked with an agency that collected taxes. After the French Revolution, that wasn’t a popular group of folks. Many of them were guillotined – including Lavoisier.

So the patchwork quilt that forms the constellations tells some interesting tales about our legends and our history – some of them with un-happy endings.

Script by Damond Benningfield