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)
![Bryan B. Molloy](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/bryan_molloy-300x300.jpeg)
Bryan B. Molloy
1939 - 2004
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/bio-moore_gordon_2005-1-300x300.jpg)
Gordon E. Moore
1929 - 2023
![Giulio Natta, 1963.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/giulio_natta_wikimedia-300x300.jpeg)
Giulio Natta
1903 - 1979
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/bio-nobel-300x300.jpg)
Alfred Nobel
1833 - 1896
![A professional portrait of Donald Othmer as a young man, wearing a suit and tie.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/othmeryoungman-96.17.004c-profile-300x300.jpg)
Donald F. Othmer
1904 - 1995
![black and white photo of a man in a lab](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/robert_parry_headshot-300x300.jpg)
Robert W. Parry
1917 - 2006
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/portrait_of_louis_pasteur-300x300.jpeg)
Louis Pasteur
1822 - 1895
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/bio-pauling_crop-300x300.jpeg)
Linus Carl Pauling
1901 - 1994
![Portrait of William Henry Perkin, 1906.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/portrait_william_henry_perkin-300x300.jpeg)
William Henry Perkin
1838 - 1907
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/roy_plunkett-profile-300x300.jpg)
Roy J. Plunkett
1910 - 1994
![Illustration of Joseph Priestley](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/portrait_joseph_priestley-300x300.jpeg)
Joseph Priestley
1733 - 1804
![Undated portrait of William Ramsay.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/portrait_william_ramsay-300x300.jpeg)
William Ramsay
1852 - 1916
![portrait of Ellen Richards in a cap and gown](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/ellen_swallow_richards_cap_gown-300x300.jpeg)
Ellen H. Swallow Richards
1842 - 1911
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/bio-richards-theodore-300x300.jpg)
Theodore William Richards
1868 - 1928
![Rosenkranz in a suit and tie, smiling](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/bio-rosenkranz-300x300.jpg)
George Rosenkranz
1916 - 2019
![Rutherford with a thick mustache wearing a dark three-piece suit](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/rutherford-profile-300x300.jpg)
Ernest Rutherford
1871 - 1937
![Albert Sabin demonstrates how the oral vaccine for polio is given to children.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/sabin-300x300.jpg)
Albert Bruce Sabin
1906 - 1993
![Black and white photograph of Glenn T. Seaborg in an office](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/glenn_seaborg-300x300.jpeg)
Glenn Theodore Seaborg
1912 - 1999
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/sharp-profile-300x300.jpg)
Phillip Sharp
b. 1944
![Hideki Shirakawa](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Hideki_Shirakawa-300x300.jpeg)
Hideki Shirakawa
b. 1936
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/singer-profile-300x300.jpg)
Maxine Singer
b. 1931
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/smalley_richard-300x300.jpg)
Richard E. Smalley
1943 - 2005
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/bio-solomon-globe-1-300x300.jpg)
Susan Solomon
b. 1956
![Undated photo of Danish chemist Soren Sorensen working in a lab.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/soren_sorensen_wikimedia-300x300.jpeg)
Søren Sørensen
1868 - 1939
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/staudinger_hermann_wiley_vch-300x300.jpg)
Hermann Staudinger
1881 - 1965
![Fritz Strassmann.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/strassmann_fritz_max_planck-300x300.jpg)
Fritz Strassmann
1902 - 1980
![Albert sits on a chair, leaning forward with his elbows on his legs and hands clasped.](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Albert-Szent-gyorgyi-1-300x300.jpeg)
Albert Szent-Györgyi
1893 - 1986
![](https://www.sciencehistory.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/thomson_jj_undated-300x300.jpg)
Joseph John “J. J.” Thomson
1856 - 1940
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.