Scientific Biographies
Science is a human pursuit. Meet the people behind some of the most significant achievements and discoveries in the history of chemistry, chemical engineering, and the life sciences.
Jonas Salk and Albert Bruce Sabin
In the 1950s Salk and Sabin developed separate vaccines—one from killed virus and the other from live virus—to combat the dreaded polio disease.
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/salk-profile-640x500.jpg)
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/chang_nancy-profile-300x300.jpg)
Nancy Chang
b. 1950
![Paul Charpentier.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/charpentier-profile-1-300x300.jpg)
Paul Charpentier
n.d.
![Uma Chowdhry wearing green shawl and glasses, hand on a rail, cherry blossoms in background](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Uma_Chowdhry_2008-300x300.jpg)
Uma Chowdhry
1947 - 2024
![Stanley N. Cohen.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/cohen-large-profile_2-1-300x300.jpg)
Stanley N. Cohen
b. 1935
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/cohn-profile_0-300x300.jpg)
Mildred Cohn
1913 - 2009
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/collip-300x300.jpg)
James Bertram Collip
1892 - 1965
![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.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/bio-cori1_vc014003-300x300.jpg)
Carl Ferdinand Cori
1896 - 1984
![Gerty and Carl Cori working in a lab](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/gerty_carl_ferdinand_cori_wikimedia-300x300.jpeg)
Gerty Theresa Cori
1896 - 1957
![Archibald Scott Couper. Photograph of drawing (not before 1860).](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/bio-couper-e1684518381450-300x300.jpg)
Archibald Scott Couper
1831 - 1892
![Simone Courvoisier.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/courvoisier_0-300x300.jpg)
Simone Courvoisier
n.d.
![James Watson and Francis Crick](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/watson-crick-dna-model_crop3-300x300.jpg)
Francis Crick
1916 - 2004
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/bio-curie-300x300.jpg)
Marie Sklodowska Curie
1867 - 1934
![Robert Curl](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/curl_robert_chao_2009_chf-300x300.jpg)
Robert F. Curl
b. 1933
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/dalton_portrait-300x300.jpg)
John Dalton
1766 - 1844
![Marie Maynard Daly working in her lab circa 1960](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/marie_maynard_daly_lab-300x300.jpg)
Marie Maynard Daly
1921 - 2003
![portrait of George Davis](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/george_davis_wiki-300x300.jpeg)
George E. Davis
1850 - 1906
![Portrait of Sir Humphrey Davy Bar't., after 1821.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/sir_humphrey_davy_portrait-300x300.jpeg)
Humphry Davy
1778 - 1829
![Jean Delay.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/delay-300x300.jpg)
Jean Delay
1907 - 1987
![Pierre Deniker.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/deniker_0-300x300.jpg)
Pierre Deniker
1917 - 1998
![Djerassi wears a tan suit jacket and green ribboned medal around his neck](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/bio-djerassi-portrait-300x300.jpg)
Carl Djerassi
1923 - 2015
![Gerhard Domagk stares towards the camera with his chin resting on his hand. he wears a light colored jacket with a dark tie.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/bio-domagk-300x300.jpg)
Gerhard Domagk
1895 - 1964
![Portrait of Herbert H. Dow, ca. 1900](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/portrait_herbert_dow-300x300.jpeg)
Herbert Henry Dow
1866 - 1930
![Charles Drew is seated at a counter wearing a lab coat and touching a microscope](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/bio-drew_lab-300x300.jpg)
Charles Richard Drew
1904 - 1950
![Engraved portrait of du Pont wearing a dark coat and high collar shirt with white tie](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/bio-du-pont-300x300.jpg)
Eleuthère Irénée du Pont
1771 - 1834
![painting of Paul Ehrlich](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/pg6-300x300.jpg)
Paul Ehrlich
1854 - 1915
![Hitchings and Elion in a lab wearing lab coats and smiling. They both hold black, blue, red, and white plastic models](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/george_hitchings_and_gertrude_elion_1988-300x300.jpg)
Gertrude Elion
1918 - 1999
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/09-faraday-profile-1-300x300.jpg)
Michael Faraday
1791 - 1867
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/louis_fieser-profile_0-300x300.jpg)
Louis Fieser
1899 - 1977
About Scientific Biographies
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.