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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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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
Portrait of Helia Bravo-Hollis, 2001.
Helia Bravo-Hollis
1901 - 2001
black and white portrait of a woman
Mary Letitia Caldwell
1890 - 1972
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
Engraved portrait of du Pont wearing a dark coat and high collar shirt with white tie
Eleuthère Irénée du Pont
1771 - 1834
Michael Faraday
1791 - 1867
Anna Jane Harrison
1912 - 1998
woman with gray hair wearing glasses
Darleane C. Hoffman
1926 - 2025
Stephanie L. Kwolek
1923 - 2014
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
Rutherford with a thick mustache wearing a dark three-piece suit
Ernest Rutherford
1871 - 1937
black and white portrait of a man wearing a bowtie
Thomas Washington Talley
1868 - 1952
Joseph John “J. J.” Thomson
1856 - 1940

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Everything you need to know about our scientific biographies, including how to contact us, cite a biography, pitch a scientist, write a biography, or republish a biography.