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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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group of noted scientists including William Astbury and Lawrence Bragg
William Astbury
1898 - 1961
Rachel Carson
Rachel Carson
1907 - 1964
illustration from Grounds of Natural Philosophy book
Margaret Lucas Cavendish
1623 - 1673
Undated portrait of mycologist Vera Charles
Vera Katherine Charles
18771954 - 1954
Edith Coleman
1874 - 1951
An image of Marie Maynard Daly, a black woman scientist in a lab coat works with test tubes in a laboratory.
Marie Maynard Daly
1921 - 2003
man in a hat smoking a pipe
Paul de Kruif
1890 - 1971
drawing of a man in a hat
Francisco Hernández
1515 - 1587
Yeast Art portrait of Fanny Angelina Hesse
Fanny Angelina Hesse
1850 - 1934
Jane Marcet
1769 - 1858
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
woman with glasses seated at a table reading a book
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin
1900 - 1979
portrait of Ellen Richards in a cap and gown
Ellen H. Swallow Richards
1842 - 1911
Portrait of Jokichi Takamine
Jokichi Takamine
1854 - 1922

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