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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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painting of Robert Boyle wearing a long wig
Robert Boyle
1627 - 1691
old portrait of two men in suits
Robert Bunsen
1811 - 1899
Portrait of Sir Humphrey Davy Bar't., after 1821.
Humphry Davy
1778 - 1829
Mary Lowe Good
1931 - 2019
Charles M. Hall
1863 - 1914
Alice Hamilton
1869 - 1970
Paul Héroult.
Paul Héroult
1863 - 1914
woman with gray hair wearing glasses
Darleane C. Hoffman
1926 - 2025
A vintage portrait of Gustav Robert Kirchhoff (left) and Robert Wilhelm Eberhard Bunsen.
Gustav Kirchhoff
1824 - 1887
Ralph Landau
1916 - 2004
color portrait of a man sitting in a chair
Friedrich Mohs
1773 - 1839
black and white photo of a man in a lab
Petr Rehbinder
1898 - 1972
Black and white photograph of Glenn T. Seaborg in an office
Glenn Theodore Seaborg
1912 - 1999

About Scientific Biographies

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