Join our museum’s Gallery Guides for a “drop-in” tour highlighting the central role of women in shaping chemistry and the material sciences throughout history.

Our Women in Chemistry Tour profiles women chemists from antiquity to the present, sharing stories of innovation, resistance, and change.

On this tour, you can expect to:

  • learn about the legendary founding women of alchemy
  • explore the connections between domesticity and distillation
  • see how wartime changed the laboratory

You’ll also meet pioneering chemists and chemistry educators, from 17th-century French alchemist Marie Meurdrac to Marie Maynard Daly, the first Black woman in America to receive a PhD in chemistry, and the uncredited women who labor in the chemical and technological industries.


Drop-in tours are free and no reservations are necessary.

More events

people studying in a library
May 6, 2026
Free

Othmer Library Tour

Curious about the other half of the Science History Institute? Step into the Othmer Library of Chemical History!

May 9, 2026
For Families

Stories of Science: Fireworks!

Spend your Saturday exploring the sparkling and explosive history of fireworks!

May 11, 2026
Science on Tap

Explosive History: Telling the Story of Fireworks at the U.S. 250th

How do you bring something dangerous, something explosive, something ephemeral, into a physical museum?

    Republish

    Copy the above HTML to republish this content. We have formatted the material to follow our guidelines, which include our credit requirements. Please review our full list of guidelines for more information. By republishing this content, you agree to our republication requirements.