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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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Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier

This French chemist introduced the world to hydrogen and oxygen, terms that were at the heart of one of the hottest chemical debates of the 1700s.

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Detail of a French Philatelic First Day Cover commemorating the 2nd centenary of the birth of Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier, ca. 1943.
Science History Institute
Illustration of Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier used on a French postage stamp

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Charles Drew is seated at a counter wearing a lab coat and touching a microscope
Charles Richard Drew
1904 - 1950
A painted portrait of a bearded man in a suit, with shelves of bottles in the background.
Paul Ehrlich
1854 - 1915
Alexander Fleming working in a lab holding a petri dish
Alexander Fleming
1881 - 1955
Howard Florey.
Howard Walter Florey
1898 - 1968
Rosalind Franklin
1920 - 1958
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
Alice Hamilton
1869 - 1970
Elizabeth Lee Hazen
1885 - 1975
drawing of a man in a hat
Francisco Hernández
1515 - 1587
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
Portrait of Justus von Liebig, after 1845.
Justus von Liebig
1803 - 1873
John Macleod, 1923.
John Macleod
1876 - 1935
Russell Earl Marker
1902 - 1995
man standing at a table looking down
Eizi Matuda
1894 - 1978
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw
b. 1953
Undated photograph of biochemist Maud Leonora Menten.
Maud Leonora Menten
1879 - 1960
Portrait of Maria Sibylla Merian
Maria Sibylla Merian
1647 - 1717
A person in a suit and tie, wearing glasses, with a neutral expression, against a dark background.
Leonor Michaelis
1875 - 1949
black and white photo of a man
Isaac Ochoterena
1895 - 1950
Louis Pasteur
1822 - 1895
Linus Carl Pauling
1901 - 1994
Julius Richard Petri pictured at the Robert Koch Institute in Germany, ca. 1800s
Julius Richard Petri
1852 - 1921
Undated photograph of Lee Riley
Lee W. Riley
1949 - 2022
Rosenkranz in a suit and tie, smiling
George Rosenkranz
1916 - 2019
Albert Sabin demonstrates how the oral vaccine for polio is given to children.
Albert Bruce Sabin
1906 - 1993
Jonas Salk
1914 - 1995
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