Scientific Biographies
Science is a human pursuit. Meet the people behind some of the most significant achievements and discoveries in the history of chemistry, chemical engineering, and the life sciences.
Paula Hammond
A pioneer in nanotechnology, Hammond is Vice Provost for Faculty and Institute Professor at MIT, cofounder of MIT’s Institute for Soldier Nanotechnology, and a member of MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research.
![Paula Hammond in her lab at MIT.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/paula_hammond_bg_lighter-640x500.jpeg)
![old photograph of two people in a lab](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/IreneJoliotCurie_FredericJoliot1935-300x300.jpeg)
Irène Joliot-Curie
1897 - 1956
![Dr. Percy Lavon Julian honored at MacMurray College](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/percy_lavon_julian_macmurray_college-300x300.jpeg)
Percy Lavon Julian
1899 - 1975
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/bio-kekule-300x300.jpg)
August Kekulé
1829 - 1896
![Gustav Robert Kirchhoff (left) and Robert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/bunsen-kirchhoff1-profile_crop-300x300.jpeg)
Gustav Kirchhoff
1824 - 1887
![Harold Kroto](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/kroto_harry_nobel_symposium_dal-crop-300x300.jpg)
Harold W. Kroto
1939 - 2016
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/bio-kwolek-microscope-300x300.jpg)
Stephanie L. Kwolek
1923 - 2014
![man in a lab](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/henri_laborit_lab-300x300.png)
Henri-Marie Laborit
1914 - 1995
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/bio-landau-ralph-300x300.jpg)
Ralph Landau
1916 - 2004
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/bio-langer_0-300x300.jpg)
Robert S. Langer
b. 1948
![Irving Langmuir at home enjoying Harper’s Magazine.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/bio-langmuir-300x300.jpg)
Irving Langmuir
1881 - 1957
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/lavoisier-profile-300x300.jpg)
Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier
1743 - 1794
![Lewis wearing a dark suit and tie](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/bio-lewis-gn-portrait-300x300.jpg)
Gilbert Newton Lewis
1875 - 1946
![Warren K. Lewis](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Warren_Kendall_Lewis_wikimedia-300x300.jpeg)
Warren K. Lewis
1882 - 1975
![Portrait of Justus von Liebig, after 1845.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/portrait_justus_von_liebig-300x300.jpeg)
Justus von Liebig
1803 - 1873
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/bio-linde-300x300.jpg)
Carl von Linde
1842 - 1934
![Arthur Dehon Little.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/little_arthur_haynes_portrait_collection-2-300x300.jpg)
Arthur Little
1863 - 1935
![Alan MacDiarmid](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/profile-macdiarmid_alan_nobel_symp_2000-dl-2-300x300.jpg)
Alan MacDiarmid
1927 - 2007
![John Macleod, 1923.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/macleod-300x300.jpg)
John Macleod
1876 - 1935
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/marcet_profile-1-300x300.jpg)
Jane Marcet
1769 - 1858
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/bio-marker-lab-300x300.jpg)
Russell Earl Marker
1902 - 1995
![Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/kiran_crop-profile-1-300x300.jpg)
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw
b. 1953
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/meitner_lise_courtesy_anne_meitner-300x300.jpg)
Lise Meitner
1878 - 1968
![Portrait of Dmitri Mendeleev, ca. 1900.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/portrait_dmitri_mendeleev-300x300.jpeg)
Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev
1834 - 1907
![Undated photograph of biochemist Maud Leonora Menten.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/maud_leonora_menten_wikimedia-300x300.jpeg)
Maud Leonora Menten
1879 - 1960
![Julius Lothar Meyer.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/bio-meyer-portrait-smithcollection-crop-300x300.jpg)
Julius Lothar Meyer
1830 - 1895
![Leonor Michaelis in 1946.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/michaelis1-profile-300x300.jpg)
Leonor Michaelis
1875 - 1949
![man dressed in a suit with a yellow tie](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Mario_Molina_wikimedia-300x300.jpeg)
Mario Molina
1943 - 2020
![Bryan B. Molloy](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/bryan_molloy-300x300.jpeg)
Bryan B. Molloy
1939 - 2004
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