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)
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/bio-acheson_portrait_2003.900.002-300x300.jpg)
Edward Goodrich Acheson
1856 - 1931
![Signed portrait of a man](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/bredigarrheniusportraitfinal-300x300.jpg)
Svante August Arrhenius
1859 - 1927
![portrait of Amedeo Avogadro](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/portrait_amedeo_avogadro-300x300.jpeg)
Amedeo Avogadro
1776 - 1856
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/bio-baekeland-portrait-300x300.jpg)
Leo Hendrik Baekeland
1863 - 1944
![Frederick Banting and Charles Best on the roof of the University of Toronto’s Medical Building in 1922. Dogs were used as experimental subjects in the insuli. From the F. G. Banting Papers. Courtesy Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/bio_banting_best-300x300.jpg)
Frederick Grant Banting
1891 - 1941
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/barton_large_-_credit_bob_paz-profile-300x300.jpg)
Jacqueline K. Barton
b. 1952
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/profile_beckman_arnold_1959_0-300x300.jpg)
Arnold O. Beckman
1900 - 2004
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/benerito-profile_0-300x300.jpg)
Ruth Benerito
1916 - 2013
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/benesch_reinhold_and_ruth_columbia_univ-300x300.jpg)
Reinhold Benesch
1919 - 1986
![Reinhold and Ruth Benesch.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/reinhold_ruth_benesch_columbia_univ_bio-300x300.jpeg)
Ruth Benesch
1925 - 2000
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/berg-large-or_profile2_0-300x300.jpg)
Paul Berg
1926 - 2023
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/bio-berkowitz-300x300.jpg)
Joan Berkowitz
1931 - 2020
![Solomon A. Berson, 1945. Archives of the Frederick L. Ehrman Medical Library](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/bio-berson-300x300.jpg)
Solomon A. Berson
1918 - 1972
![portrait of Jons jokob Brezelius](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/portrait_jons_jakob_berzelius-300x300.jpeg)
Jöns Jakob Berzelius
1779 - 1848
![Charles Herbert Best](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/charles_best_wikimedia-300x300.jpg)
Charles Herbert Best
1899 - 1978
![Katherin Blodgett at General Electric Research Laboratories, 1938.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/katherine_blodgett_lab_wikikmedia-300x300.jpeg)
Katharine Burr Blodgett
1898 - 1979
![Herbert Boyer in 2005.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/boyer1-profile-300x300.jpg)
Herbert W. Boyer
b. 1936
![painting of Robert Boyle wearing a long wig](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/2001.002.001_0-300x300.jpg)
Robert Boyle
1627 - 1691
![St. Elmo Brady in a chemistry lab at Fisk University. He is pouring a liquid from one beaker into another. There are counters of lab equipment surrounding him.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/st_elmo_brady_1950-300x300.jpg)
St. Elmo Brady
1884 - 1966
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/rachel_brown_elizabeth_hazen-300x300.jpeg)
Rachel Fuller Brown
1898 - 1980
![old portrait of two men in suits](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/bunsen_kirchhoff_crop-300x300.jpeg)
Robert Bunsen
1811 - 1899
![Black and white photo of Cain in a suit and tie](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/cain_gordon_odum_jean-300x300.jpg)
Gordon A. Cain
1912 - 2002
![Undated portrait of Stanislao Cannizzaro](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/portrait_stanislao_cannizzaro-300x300.jpeg)
Stanislao Cannizzaro
1826 - 1910
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/withneoprene-profile-300x300.jpg)
Wallace Hume Carothers
1896 - 1937
![Rachel Carson](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/fea1_4_0-300x300.jpg)
Rachel Carson
1907 - 1964
![black and white photo of George Washington Carver](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/geirge_washington_carver_crop-300x300.png)
George Washington Carver
ca. 1864 - 1943
![man in lab coat conducting an experiment](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/ernst_boris_chain_wikimedia-300x300.jpeg)
Ernst Boris Chain
1906 - 1979
![Professional portrait of E. M. A. Chandler, ca. 1930. He looks over his left shoulder and is wearing a suit.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/bio-chandler-300x300.jpg)
Edward Chandler
1887 - 1973
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