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Scientific Biographies

Science is a human pursuit. Meet some of the people who have contributed to the history of chemistry, chemical engineering, and the life sciences.
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Percy Lavon Julian

The grandson of enslaved people, Julian overcame racial barriers to achieve scientific, business, and personal success.

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Dr. Percy Lavon Julian is pictured at the newly constructed chemistry building named in his honor at MacMurray College, 1972.
Science History Institute
Dr. Percy Lavon Julian honored at MacMurray College

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Ruth Benerito
1916 - 2013
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.
St. Elmo Brady
1884 - 1966
black and white portrait of a woman
Mary Letitia Caldwell
1890 - 1972
black and white photo of George Washington Carver
George Washington Carver
ca. 1864 - 1943
illustration from Grounds of Natural Philosophy book
Margaret Lucas Cavendish
1623 - 1673
Professional portrait of E. M. A. Chandler, ca. 1930. He looks over his left shoulder and is wearing a suit.
Edward Chandler
1887 - 1973
portrait of George Davis
George E. Davis
1850 - 1906
Louis Fieser
1899 - 1977
Mary Fieser, fall 1951.
Mary Peters Fieser
1909 - 1997
Mary Lowe Good
1931 - 2019
Anna Jane Harrison
1912 - 1998
August Kekulé
1829 - 1896
Stephanie L. Kwolek
1923 - 2014
Warren K. Lewis
Warren K. Lewis
1882 - 1975
Portrait of Justus von Liebig, after 1845.
Justus von Liebig
1803 - 1873
Arthur Dehon Little.
Arthur Little
1863 - 1935
Jane Marcet
1769 - 1858
Portrait of Dmitri Mendeleev, ca. 1900.
Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev
1834 - 1907
Julius Lothar Meyer.
Julius Lothar Meyer
1830 - 1895
Margery Milne
1914 - 2006
black and white photo of a man
Isaac Ochoterena
1895 - 1950
black and white photo of a man in a lab
Robert W. Parry
1917 - 2006
portrait of Ellen Richards in a cap and gown
Ellen H. Swallow Richards
1842 - 1911
Black and white photograph of Glenn T. Seaborg in an office
Glenn Theodore Seaborg
1912 - 1999
woman seated writing notes
Maxine Singer
1931 - 2024
black and white portrait of a man wearing a bowtie
Thomas Washington Talley
1868 - 1952
Portrait of William Walker
William Walker
1869 - 1934
half-length portrait of German chemist Friedrich Wöhler
Friedrich Wöhler
1800 - 1882

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