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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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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
Solomon A. Berson, 1945. Archives of the Frederick L. Ehrman Medical Library
Solomon A. Berson
1918 - 1972
Katherin Blodgett at General Electric Research Laboratories, 1938.
Katharine Burr Blodgett
1898 - 1979
Herbert Boyer in 2005.
Herbert W. Boyer
b. 1936
Rachel Fuller Brown
1898 - 1980
old portrait of two men in suits
Robert Bunsen
1811 - 1899
black and white portrait of a woman
Mary Letitia Caldwell
1890 - 1972
illustration from Grounds of Natural Philosophy book
Margaret Lucas Cavendish
1623 - 1673
Undated portrait of mycologist Vera Charles
Vera Katherine Charles
18771954 - 1954
Paul Charpentier.
Paul Charpentier
n.d.
Stanley N. Cohen.
Stanley N. Cohen
b. 1935
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
Simone Courvoisier.
Simone Courvoisier
n.d.
Robert Curl
Robert F. Curl
1933 - 2022
Jean Delay.
Jean Delay
1907 - 1987
Pierre Deniker.
Pierre Deniker
1917 - 1998
Hitchings and Elion in a lab wearing lab coats and smiling. They both hold black, blue, red, and white plastic models
Gertrude Elion
1918 - 1999
Louis Fieser
1899 - 1977
Mary Fieser, fall 1951.
Mary Peters Fieser
1909 - 1997
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
Fuller in a white button up and tie, wearing glasses and sitting in front of a dry erase board
Ray W. Fuller
1935 - 1996
black and white photo of an older woman wearing glasses
Kathryn C. “Kitty” Hach-Darrow
1922 - 2020
Otto Hahn.
Otto Hahn
1879 - 1968
Elizabeth Lee Hazen
1885 - 1975
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