Chemists
19 people, across 4 fields.
George Washington Carver 1864–1943Environment, Agriculture & FoodAgricultural scientist whose research on crop rotation and alternative crops transformed Southern farming.
Gordon Moore 1929–2023Technology & InventionCo-founder of Intel whose observation became Moore's Law, driving decades of semiconductor progress.
Linus Pauling 1901–1994Science & MathematicsChemist and peace activist who won two unshared Nobel Prizes in Chemistry and Peace.
Jennifer Doudna b. 1964Science & MathematicsBiochemist who co-developed CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing, revolutionizing genetics and medicine.
Glenn T. Seaborg 1912–1999Science & MathematicsCo-discovered plutonium and nine other transuranium elements and chaired the Atomic Energy Commission.
Edwin Land 1909–1991Technology & InventionScientist and co-founder of Polaroid who invented instant photography.
Katalin Karikó b. 1955Medicine & Public HealthBiochemist whose work on modified messenger RNA enabled highly effective mRNA vaccines and new therapeutic platforms.
Charles Goodyear 1800–1860Technology & InventionSelf-taught chemist who discovered the vulcanization process that made rubber commercially viable.
James Smithson 1765–1829Science & MathematicsBritish scientist whose bequest founded the Smithsonian Institution, America's museum complex.
Josiah Willard Gibbs 1839–1903Science & MathematicsFounded chemical thermodynamics and statistical mechanics through his work on heterogeneous equilibrium at Yale.
Harvey Washington Wiley 1844–1930Environment, Agriculture & FoodChemist whose adulteration studies produced the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act and the agency that became the FDA.
Percy Lavon Julian 1899–1975Science & MathematicsPioneered synthesis of cortisone and other steroids from plant sterols.
Frances Arnold b. 1956Science & MathematicsChemical engineer who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for directed evolution of enzymes.
Stephanie Kwolek 1923–2014Science & MathematicsInvented Kevlar aramid fiber while working as a DuPont research chemist.
Gerty Cori 1896–1957Medicine & Public HealthBiochemist and first American woman to win a Nobel Prize in science, honored for discoveries about carbohydrate metabolism.
Wallace Carothers 1896–1937Science & MathematicsLed the DuPont research that produced neoprene and nylon and established polymer science.
Gertrude B. Elion 1918–1999Medicine & Public HealthPharmacologist whose rational drug-design work produced treatments for leukemia, infections, gout, and organ rejection.
Willard Libby 1908–1980Science & MathematicsDeveloped radiocarbon dating — transforming archaeology and geology — and won the 1960 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Peggy Whitson b. 1960Exploration, Aviation & SpaceNASA astronaut who holds the American record for most cumulative days in space.