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.
St. Elmo Brady
Brady was a leading science educator and the first African American to receive a doctorate in chemistry in the United States.
![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_1950-1000x780.jpg)
![](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
![painting of a women in a lab](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/elisabeth_bakker-300x300.jpeg)
Elisabeth Bakker *
ca. 1600s
![Frederick G. Banting 1923](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Frederick_G_Banting_1923-300x300.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
![Portrait of Helia Bravo-Hollis, 2001.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/helia_bravo_hollis_headshot_crop-300x300.jpeg)
Helia Bravo-Hollis
1901 - 2001
![](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
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