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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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Stephanie L. Kwolek

In a polymer research lab at DuPont, Kwolek discovered the super fiber known as Kevlar.

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Stephanie Kwolek at a polarizing microscope.
DuPont; gift of Stephanie Kwolek

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A sepia-toned portrait of a woman with wavy hair, smiling, wearing a dark top.
Florence Ogilvy Bell
1913 - 2000
Reinhold Benesch
1919 - 1986
Reinhold and Ruth Benesch.
Ruth Benesch
1925 - 2000
A mannequin wearing an 18th-century style blue dress with lace and elaborate hairstyle.
Blue Silk Dress
ca. 1700s
man in lab coat conducting an experiment
Ernst Boris Chain
1906 - 1979
Nancy Chang
b. 1950
Uma Chowdhry wearing green shawl and glasses, hand on a rail, cherry blossoms in background
Uma Chowdhry
1947 - 2024
Edith Coleman
1874 - 1951
Carl and Gerty Cori in their lab, wearing white lab coats. Carl points to a document with a pencil. There are beakers and bottles in the background.
Carl Ferdinand Cori
1896 - 1984
Gerty and Carl Cori working in a lab
Gerty Theresa Cori
1896 - 1957
Marie Sklodowska Curie
1867 - 1934
A person with white hair and a beard is wearing a suit, with framed certificates on the wall behind.
Carl Djerassi
1923 - 2015
Engraved portrait of du Pont wearing a dark coat and high collar shirt with white tie
Eleuthère Irénée du Pont
1771 - 1834
Howard Florey.
Howard Walter Florey
1898 - 1968
Yeast Art portrait of Fanny Angelina Hesse
Fanny Angelina Hesse
1850 - 1934
Dorothy Hodgkin in 1991 is shown seated and smiling. Her hair is half up and she is wearing a floral dress with brown panels.
Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin
1910 - 1994
photo of older man wearing glasses
Roald Hoffmann
b. 1937
Harold Kroto
Harold W. Kroto
1939 - 2016
Alan MacDiarmid
Alan MacDiarmid
1927 - 2007
Russell Earl Marker
1902 - 1995
man standing at a table looking down
Eizi Matuda
1894 - 1978
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw
b. 1953
A black-and-white photograph of a woman with a serious expression, wearing a dark top with a white collar.
Lise Meitner
1878 - 1968
Undated photograph of biochemist Maud Leonora Menten.
Maud Leonora Menten
1879 - 1960
A person in a suit and tie, wearing glasses, with a neutral expression, against a dark background.
Leonor Michaelis
1875 - 1949
man dressed in a suit with a yellow tie
Mario Molina
1943 - 2020
woman with glasses seated at a table reading a book
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin
1900 - 1979
Illustration of Joseph Priestley
Joseph Priestley
1733 - 1804
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