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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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Edward Goodrich Acheson
1856 - 1931
group of noted scientists including William Astbury and Lawrence Bragg
William Astbury
1898 - 1961
Leo Hendrik Baekeland
1863 - 1944
Jacqueline K. Barton
b. 1952
Arnold O. Beckman
1900 - 2004
Ruth Benerito
1916 - 2013
Reinhold and Ruth Benesch.
Ruth Benesch
1925 - 2000
Paul Berg
1926 - 2023
Katherin Blodgett at General Electric Research Laboratories, 1938.
Katharine Burr Blodgett
1898 - 1979
A mannequin wearing an 18th-century style blue dress with lace and elaborate hairstyle.
Blue Silk Dress
ca. 1700s
Herbert Boyer in 2005.
Herbert W. Boyer
b. 1936
Black and white photo of Cain in a suit and tie
Gordon A. Cain
1912 - 2002
Wallace Hume Carothers
1896 - 1937
black and white photo of George Washington Carver
George Washington Carver
ca. 1864 - 1943
Professional portrait of E. M. A. Chandler, ca. 1930. He looks over his left shoulder and is wearing a suit.
Edward Chandler
1887 - 1973
Uma Chowdhry wearing green shawl and glasses, hand on a rail, cherry blossoms in background
Uma Chowdhry
1947 - 2024
Stanley N. Cohen.
Stanley N. Cohen
b. 1935
Robert Curl
Robert F. Curl
1933 - 2022
portrait of George Davis
George E. Davis
1850 - 1906
A person with white hair and a beard is wearing a suit, with framed certificates on the wall behind.
Carl Djerassi
1923 - 2015
The Frees wearing lab coats and standing in a research lab. Alfred holds what seems to be an animal test subject while Helen injects something.
Helen M. Free
1923 - 2021
Helen and Alfred Free
Alfred Free
1913 - 2000
Robert W. Gore
1937 - 2020
Paula Hammond in her lab at MIT.
Paula Hammond
b. 1963
alan heeger photo
Alan J. Heeger
b. 1936
Henry Aaron Hill
1915 - 1979
photo from an old driver's license
Eugene Houdry
1892 - 1962
Dr. Percy Lavon in a suit and tie, wearing glasses, stands in front of vertical striped wallpaper.
Percy Lavon Julian
1899 - 1975
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