The teacher asked Joe whether he stole three atoms of sodium.
Joe said, "Na Na Na!"
Joe said, "Na Na Na!"
111 result(s) found for the term(s) ' scientists'
Everyday Chemistry - Video: Mountaintop Chemistry
Did you think chemistry meant there had to be a big lab with lots of gadgets? Here's a video, where scientists make an anti-cancer drug - in a tent on top of a mountain!
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History & Future - A tale about the frigid lakes of titan
It is easy to pick out Saturn in a map of our solar system. You see it portrayed with its beautiful rings that surround the planet. Today scientists are discovering that one of the moons of Saturn, Titan has the chemistry properties to make it viable to sustain life.
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History & Future - An alternative to plastic - smart mud
Plastic plays an important role in our lives. From the toothbrush that you use in the morning to the alarm clock you set at night, it is very likely that you use some plastic everyday. Japanese scientists have now discovered a new substance that promises to be a possible alternative to plastic.
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History & Future - The future of biofuels
Biofuels has long been considered an alternative to traditional fossil fuels. In the 80's this was one of the most popular solutions to the planets fuel crisis. Scientists today are realising the drawbacks of using this as an alternative to normal fuels.
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History & Future - Photosynthesis-the future of biofuels?
We have heard that photosynthesis is the process by which a plant converts solar energy to chemical energy by using chlorophyll. What you might not know is that scientists in France have discovered a way to use the same photosynthesis into electrical energy.
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History & Future - Biomimetics - materials for the future
Over millions of years, plants and animals have evolved materials with amazing properties - the sticky feet of geckos, spiders' silk, self-cleaning lotus leaves. Scientists are now learning to make products in the lab that imitate their properties; these are called biomimetics.
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History & Future - The strings of life: discovering DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), is sometimes called the most important chemical on earth, because it makes up our genes. But did you know the tale of its discovery was a long journey, involving many scientists?
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History & Future - The Royal Society
When you have a bright idea, who do you share it with? When scientists have a bright idea, they share it with other scientists in a 'learned society'. This tradition was begun by Britain's Royal Society.
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History & Future - Crystallography - The Beautiful Science
Last year, Venkatraman 'Venki' Ramakrishnan won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering how the ribosome works. The method he uses has helped a lot of other scientists Maurice Wilkins, Linus Pauling and Dorothy Hodgkin win the Prize too. It's called Crystallography.
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History & Future - Unweaving the Rainbow
The English poet Keats wrote a famous poem called Lamia, criticising scientists. He lamented that they had 'unwoven the rainbow' - i.e. by explaining how a rainbow is created, destroyed its beauty. But the science that explains a rainbow, also explains the secrets of life and the birth of the universe!
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History & Future - The Many Ages of Ice
We've heard scientists telling us that global warming is causing the ice in Antarctica and the Arctic Ocean to melt. Did you know that these ice sheets hold some secret stories in them? It's the story of how our earth's atmosphere changed over many millions of years!
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History & Future - The Hydrogen Economy
Today, we rely on carbon-based fuels for almost all our energy needs. Coal is used for electricity and petroleum products for moving vehicles. But these cause pollution and global warming. Many scientists and economists have suggested moving to a hydrogen-based economy.
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History & Future - Origins of Life: Biochemical Evolution
Fossilized bacteria inform the scientists the story of how life may have evolved in the unique environment of primordial Earth 3.8 billion years ago. Let us find out how life started....
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Famous Scientists - Svante Arrhenius
Svante Arrhenius was one of the first chemists in the field of physical chemistry. He was the first person to discover the effect of global warming. His experiments focus on the effect of the doubling of the amount of carbon dioxide gas on the environment. Even today the issue of global warming is still debated and extensive research is conducted in this field.
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Famous Scientists - Sir William Ramsay
Sir William Ramsay was the Scottish scientist who discovered the noble gases. These gases are argon, neon, krypton and xenon. These gases along with helium and radon formed a new set of elements. For this discovery, Ramsay was awarded the Noble Prize in 1904.
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Famous Scientists - Sir Humphry Davy
Sir Humphry Davy was an electrochemist who discovered several alkalis. He discovered elements like chlorine and iodine Davy is also remembered for brightening the lives of miners by making the miners safety lamp, now called the Davy lamp.
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Famous Scientists - Robert Boyle
We have all done litmus tests at school. How many of us know that Robert Boyle is the inventor of the litmus test. Considered to be the founder of modern chemistry, Robert Boyle was a scientist of the 17th century. Boyle is remembered for his law about the relationship between pressure and volume of gasses.
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Famous Scientists - Joseph Priestley
Ever had a sip of soda and marvelled at the fact how a little fizz makes it different from fruit juices? Joseph Priestley added fizz in our life with the discovery of soda water and oxygen.
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Famous Scientists - John Dalton
Best-known for his work in modern atomic theory, John Dalton was an English chemist, meteorologist and physicist. The son of a weaver, Dalton's major contribution to the field of chemistry is his atomic theory proposed in 1803. In the theory he reasoned that tiny particles called atoms make up elements.
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Famous Scientists - Jacobus Henricus
Born in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Jacobus Henricus van't Hoff is known for his contribution in physical chemistry. He conducted extensive research in the fields of chemical equilibrium, osmotic pressure and stereochemistry, for which he received his first Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
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Famous Scientists - Wendell Stanley
What if you had to deal with viruses for the most of your active life? Sounds dangerous, doesn't it? Well, that's what Wendell Stanley chose as his career. He was an American biochemist who received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work on purification and crystallization of viruses to demonstrate their molecular structure. He is the man even experts turn to when they have problems with viruses.
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Famous Scientists - Sir Robert Robinson
Imagine what would happen if there were no drugs to cure Malaria. That's a scary situation, isn't it? Sir Robert Robinson's research in organic chemistry with the structure and synthesis of organic bodies led to the production of anti-malarial drugs.
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Famous Scientists - Marie Curie
Today, we talk about radioactivity and radioactive elements. But do you know who coined the term 'radioactivity''? Yes, it was the Nobel Prize winning Marie Curie. She discovered two important elements - Radium and Polonium, which you will be able to easily spot in the periodic table. Marie Curie dedicated her entire life for research on radioactive elements.
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Famous Scientists - Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac
Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac is quite popular in the world of chemistry. He is remembered for his laws on gases, known as Gay Lussac's laws. His two laws deal with volumes, pressures and temperatures of gases and the relationship between them.
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Famous Scientists - Daniel Rutherford
We all love to munch on chips. Have you ever wondered how these chips stay so fresh? If you look closely at the packet, you will realise that the preservative gas used is Nitrogen. The first person to discover nitrogen was Daniel Rutherford in 1772.
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Famous Scientists - Amedeo Avogadro
Today it is very easy for us to define what an atom or molecule is. In the early days of science there was a lot of debate about this. It was Amedeo Avogadro who helped tell the difference between compounds, molecules and atoms.
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Famous Scientists - Adolf von Baeyer
Baeyer is a German chemist who synthesised indigo, the stuff that is used to make your jeans blue in colour. He won the Nobel Prize for his work in organic chemistry and with synthetic dyes
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Famous Scientists - Emil Fischer
Emil Fischer is known in the world of chemistry for discovering the peptide bond. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work on the structure and properties of purines and sugars.
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Famous Scientists - Wilhelm Ostwald
Friedrich Wilhelm Ostwald was the son of Gottfried Wilhelm Ostwald and Elisabeth Leuckel. He was a Baltic German chemist whose work on catalysis, chemical equilibrium and reaction velocities won him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1909.
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Famous Scientists - Henri Moissan
Henri Moissan was a French chemist, born in Paris on September 28, 1852. He won the 1906 Nobel Prize for his work in isolating fluorine from its compounds.
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Famous Scientists - Ernest Rutherford
Rutherford is considered to be the father of nuclear physics, being the first person to split the atom in 1917. He discovered that all atoms had their positive charge concentrated in a nucleus. He was awarded the Noble Prize for his work in the field.
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Famous Scientists - Edward Buchner
Eduard Buchner was a German chemist and zymologist. He won the 1907 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on the fermentation of carbohydrates.
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Famous Scientists - Arne Tiselius
Arne Tiselius was a Swedish biochemist, born on August 10, 1902 in Stockholm. He won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1948 for his work on electrophoresis and adsorption analysis.
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Famous Scientists - V. Ramakrishnan
V. Ramakrishnan is one of three scientists who was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He was awarded the prize for his studies of the structure and function of the ribosome. His research is important in the field of medicine and hopefully will help develop new antibiotic cures.
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Famous Scientists - Alfred Werner
Alfred Werner was a Swiss chemist who won the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1913 for his research on coordination chemistry. He proposed the octahedral configuration of transition metal complexes and became the first inorganic chemist to win the prize.
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Famous Scientists - Otto Hahn
Otto Hahn a German chemist was one of the first scientists to break new ground in the field of radioactivity and radiochemistry. He won the Nobel Prize in 1944 for his discovery of nuclear fission. Due to his work he is often called 'the father of nuclear chemistry' and the 'founder of the atomic age'.
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Famous Scientists - Otto Wallach
Otto Wallach is the German Chemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on alicyclic compounds. One of his major contributions that he is known for is his isoprene rule and study of terpene which is used in turpentine today.
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Famous Scientists - Glenn Theodore Seaborg
Glenn Seaborg was born in Ishpeming, Michigan on April 19th, 1912. He was an American scientist who had a Scottish lineage. He won the Nobel Laureate in Chemistry in 1951 for his many discoveries in the field of Transuranium metals. He has many things named after him from the element Seaborgium to an asteroid called 4856 Seaborg.
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Famous Scientists - Theodor Svedberg
Theodor Svedberg was a Swedish chemist born in Flerang, Sweden on August 30th, 1884. He won the Nobel Prize for chemistry for his studies in the field of colloids and also for the invention of the ultracentrifuge in 1926.
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Famous Scientists - Frederic Joliot Curie & Irene Joliot-Curie
Frederic Joliot-Curie and Irene Joliot-Curie were both French scientists. Husband and wife, they were jointly awarded Nobel laureates in 1935 for their joint discovery of new radioactive isotopes which they prepared artificially. They are also known for their contribution towards the discovery of the neutron.
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Famous Scientists - Victor Grignard & Paul Sabatier
Francois Auguste Victor Grignard and Paul Sabatier were joint Noble Laureates for chemistry in the year 1912. They were both French chemists who started their careers in different fields, mathematics and physics, but made respectable contributions to the field of chemistry later in their life.
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Famous Scientists - Carl Bosch
Carl Bosch was born on 27th August, 1874 in Cologne, Germany. He was a German chemist and engineer. Carl won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1931 for his contribution in the introduction of high pressure chemistry. The asteroid- 7414 Bosch was named after him in his honour.
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Famous Scientists - William Giauque
William Giauque was born on 12th May, 1895 in Niagara Falls, Canada. Giauque was a chemist and won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1949.
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Famous Scientists - John Northrop
John Howard Northrop was a joint winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1946 for his work on purifying enzymes, proteins and viruses.
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Famous Scientists - Gerhard Herzberg
Gerhard Herzberg was born on the 25th December, 1904, in Hamburg, Germany. A pioneer in both chemistry and physical chemistry, he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1971. The asteroid 3316 Herzberg too is named after him.
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Famous Scientists - Theodore Richards
Theodore Richards was the first American to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He was awarded it in 1914 for accurately determining the atomic weight of 25 elements.
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Famous Scientists - Francis Aston
Francis William Aston won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering isotopes by conducting mass spectrograph of isotopes. He conducted this research in a large amount of non-radioactive elements. He is also remembered for his whole-number rule.
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Famous Scientists - Frederick Soddy
Remembered for his contributions in the field of radiochemistry and the discovery of isotopes, Frederick Soddy won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1921.
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Famous Scientists - Fritz Haber
Fritz Haber was a German chemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on synthesising ammonia, important fertilisers and explosives.
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Famous Scientists - Walther Hermann Nernst
Walther Hermann Nernst won the 1920 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on thermochemistry.
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Famous Scientists - Fritz Pregl
Austrian chemist Fritz Pregl won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his contribution in the field of quantitative organic microanalysis. He played a major role in helping develop the combustion train technique of elemental analysis.
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Famous Scientists - Heinrich Wieland
The son of Theodor Wieland and Elise Blum, Heinrich Wieland won the 1927 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research in bile acids.
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Famous Scientists - Adolf Windaus
German chemist Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus, is remembered for his work on sterols and their relation to vitamins for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1928.
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Famous Scientists - Richard Adolf Zsigmondy
Hungarian born Richard Adolf Zsigmondy was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work on Colloids.
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Famous Scientists - Arthur Harden
Arthur Harden was a biochemist who jointly won the 1929 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work on the fermentation of sugars and fermentative enzymes. He shared this prize with Hans Karl August Simon von Euler-Chelpin.
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Famous Scientists - Friedrich Bergius
German chemist Friedrich Bergius was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1951. He won this award in recognition for his invention and development of chemical high-pressure methods.
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Famous Scientists - Hans Fischer
Hans Fischer won the 1930 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his contribution to the field of biochemistry. He did extensive work on the chemistry of pyrrole and the synthesis of haemin.
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Famous Scientists - Hans von Euler-Chelpin
Hans von Euler-Chelpin jointly won the 1929 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for research in the fermenting of sugar and fermentative enzymes.
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Famous Scientists - Sir Walter Norman Haworth
The British chemist W. N. Haworth made important contributions to biochemistry, including his study of Vitamin C. He won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1937 along with Paul Karrer, and was knighted in 1947.
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Famous Scientists - Harold Urey
We owe a lot of our understanding of the field of isotopes to Harold Urey, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1934. Urey also contributed to building the atom bomb and notably the development of organic life from non-living matter.
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Famous Scientists - Irving Langmuir
The 1932 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Irving Langmuir for his work on surface chemistry. He has contributed to several developments in the field of chemistry and physics.
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Famous Scientists - Paul Karrer
The Swiss chemist Paul Karrer made important contributions to the study of vitamins. He won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1937 along with W.N. Haworth.
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Famous Scientists - Peter Debye
Peter Debye walked away with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1936 for his contributions in the field of physical chemistry.
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Famous Scientists - James Lovelock
Today, we know that CFCs threaten the earth by destroying the ozone hole. For this knowledge, we must thank James Lovelock, who first detected that CFCs were being released into the atmosphere.
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Famous Scientists - Frank Rowland and Mario Molina
In 1987, countries around the world agreed upon the Montreal Protocol, a treaty to eliminate chemicals which deplete the ozone layer. Frank Rowland and Mario Molino deserve the credit for this, for they showed exactly how CFCs destroy ozone.
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Famous Scientists - Paul Crutzen
While the role of CFCs in depleting the ozone layer is well-known, there are many other gases that deplete ozone and act as greenhouse gases. The role of these gases was explained by Paul Crutzen, who got the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1995.
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Famous Scientists - Ryoji Noyori
Some scientists love science simply because it is wonderful. Some pursue science because they feel "Research is for nations and mankind, not for researchers themselves". Prof. Ryoji Noyori firmly believes in the latter.
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Famous Scientists - Richard Martin Willstatter
You know that plants are green because they contain chlorophyll. You also know that chlorophyll is important for photosynthesis. But do you know that it was a scientist called Richard Martin Willstatter who discovered it?
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Famous Scientists - Robert Grubbs
As the 21st century progresses, we're all aware that that our lives need to become more eco-friendly. Green chemistry is a way to make that happen. One of the pioneers of green chemistry is Robert Howard Grubbs.
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Famous Scientists - Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier
Few things are as important as water, which we know is made of oxygen and hydrogen. Did you know that Antoine Lavoisier was the discoverer of both elements?
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Famous Scientists - Richard Schrock
Richard Royce Schrock won a Nobel Prize for his contribution to metathesis, a chemical process that laid the foundation of green chemistry.
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Famous Scientists - Pliny the Elder
When you read an encyclopaedia, ever wondered who had the patience to put it all together? One of the world's oldest encyclopaedias was put together by a Roman writer called Gaius Plinius Secundus, or Pliny the Ender.
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Famous Scientists - Yves Chauvin
Often our elders tell us to stick to the 'tried and tested'. But the best scientists have been those who refused to follow the familiar. One such is Yves Chauvin, who says you must steer clear of methods perfected over time!
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Famous Scientists - Jbir ibn Hayyn
In chemistry practicals, you mix chemicals in test tubes, grind them in mortars and boil them in retorts. Did you know that many of these common equipment and procedures were devised more than a thousand years ago by Jbir ibn Hayyn?
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Famous Scientists - Enrico Fermi
As fossil fuels become rarer, people are searching for alternative sources of energy. One of the most promising, yet controversial, is energy generated from nuclear reactions. Much of our knowledge of these reactions is owed to the Italian scientist Enrico Fermi.
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Famous Scientists - William Henry Perkin
In an earlier article we discussed dyes. But for a long time, dyes like Royal Purple were extremely expensive. Did you know that dyes became affordable to many because of William Henry Perkin?
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Famous Scientists - Ardaseer Cursetjee Wadia
Last week we learned about the Royal Society. Ardaseer Cursetjee Wadia was mentioned in it as the first Indian FRS. Let's get to know him better.
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Famous Scientists - Stephanie Kwolek
Last month we saw how a bullet-proof jacket works. Did you wonder how the material that it is made of - Kevlar - was discovered? And by whom? Then let's meet Stephanie Kwolek.
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Famous Scientists - Rachel Fuller Brown
What's common to fungal infections in babies, Dutch Elm disease in trees and mouldy works of art? They can all be cured by a drug called nystatin. And the story of the woman who discovered it - Rachel Fuller Brown - has a lot to learn from.
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Famous Scientists - Jagdish Chandra Bose
What happens if you take a rich magistrate's son and make him learn in a village school sitting besides the sons of servants and fishermen? He'll hear tales of birds and animals that make him curious about Nature. And that makes him one of India's first scientists - Jagdish Chandra Bose.
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Famous Scientists - Rosalind Elsie Franklin
A woman scientist from Cambridge University published an article in the April 25, 1953 on the journal Nature about the molecular structure of DNA. However two male scientists had written another article on the same subject in the same issue of the magazine. Those male scientists - Francis Crick and James Watson - got all the credit. The woman, Rosalind Franklin, vanished into history.
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Famous Scientists - Linus Carl Pauling
The power of science is often hard to know. How does a scientist know that what he has discovered will put to a good use, and not a bad one? Throughout his life, Linus Pauling grappled with this difficulty.
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Famous Scientists - Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev
Imagine if there was an element no one had ever seen before, but one day you announce that you know all its properties. People will call you crazy, won't they? But that's what Dmitri Mendeleev did!
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Famous Scientists - Ahmed Hassan Zewail
In a little town called Damanhur, Egypt, a little boy was very fond of learning science. His family dreamed that he would become a great professor some day. So they posted a small sign "Dr. Ahmed" outside his study to encourage him. He grew up to be one of the greatest chemists of our times - Prof. Ahmed Zewail.
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Famous Scientists - Kathleen Lonsdale
Women have often had a tough time in science - first getting jobs, and then getting enough recognition for their research. Kathleen Lonsdale's life is a great inspiration to girls who want to become scientists. She showed they are as good (or even better) than boys.
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Famous Scientists - Prafulla Chandra Ray
Many scientists are happy to make their discoveries, but are not interested in making a business of it. But a few rare ones understand why it's important to build bridges between science and industry. Prafulla Chandra Ray was the first Indian to realise this.
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Famous Scientists - Thomas Graham
You might have heard of someone whose kidney has a problem and needs something called dialysis regularly. This life-saving process was invented by Thomas Graham.
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Famous Scientists - August Kekule
Few scientists have left a stamp on chemistry as August Kekule has. Even today, chemists celebrate his life and work like a hero. So let's learn a bit more about him!
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Famous Scientists - Fausto de Elhuyar
Tungsten is everywhere in our lives. A tungsten filament gives us light whenever we switch a tubelight or CFL on. Let's have a look at the chemists who discovered this vital element.
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Famous Scientists - Hermann Kolbe
In the 19th century, people believed in a theory called vitalism. It said that a mysterious 'life-force' was required to make the organic chemicals found in our bodies. Hermann Kolbe was among the scientists who disproved the theory, by showing that chemicals could be made in the lab.
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Famous Scientists - James Dewar
All of us know that chemistry is the science that studies the materials that are important to our lives. But did you know that one field, physical chemistry, is particularly important? Let's meet one of the most renowned physical chemists ever.
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Famous Scientists - Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Abdallah ibn Sina
When a drug is introduced to market, it must undergo a number of clinical trials to show that it really cures a disease. But a long time ago, doctors would hand out medicine based on hearsay or even imagination. So who changed it all?
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Famous Scientists - Dorothy Mary Hodgkin
What's common to diabetes, pernicious anaemaia and infectious diseases? We know a lot about how to deal with them because of one woman - Dorothy Hodgkin.
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Famous Scientists - Artturi Ilmari Virtanen
A lot of the food we eat must be processed with chemicals so that it is ready to eat, both for humans and animals. Agricultural chemistry is the field that does this, and Arturi Virtanen is considered the star of this field!
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Famous Scientists - Hevesy Gyorgy
If you know someone who has cancer, they might probably have gone for a PET scan to find out how much the cancer has developed. PET scans make uses of radioisotopes. Their use in medicine was pioneered by Hevesy Gyorgy.
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Famous Scientists - Satyendra Nath Bose
If you make a landmark discovery, but no journal is willing to publish it, what do you do? If you are Satyendra Nath Bose, you send it to the most famous scientist in the world.
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Famous Scientists - Agnes Pockels
As we celebrate the International Year of Chemistry we realise that anyone can discover a great scientific theory. Would you believe us that a woman without a college education, discovered such a theory while washing dishes in the kitchen sink? She was Agnes Pockels!
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Famous Scientists - Elizabeth Fulhame
Three centuries ago, women were expected to stick to 'womanly' activities such as painting and weaving, and not try to do 'manly' things like scientific experiments. But one woman refused to be so limited - Elizabeth Fulhame.
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Famous Scientists - Marie-Anne Lavoisier
Antoine Lavoisier is often called the greatest chemist ever, for his amazing discoveries. But did you know that his wife was a great chemist too - the secret of his success? As we celebrate the International Year of Chemistry it seems apt that today on her birth anniversary, we know more about her.
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Famous Scientists - Allene Rosalind Jeanes
Often we know of a chemical or a device that helps save lives, but we don't know the person who made it possible. So in the international year of chemistry, we thought we'll introduce you to some such people. One of them is Allene Jeanes.
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Famous Scientists - Irina Beletskaya
Can you do advanced scientific research, even when there is very little money available to buy chemicals and equipment? If you are Prof. Irina Beletskaya, you always find a way.
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Famous Scientists - Ya'qub Al-Kindi
When you study chemistry at school, have you wondered how it all started? While most famous chemists are Europeans and Americans, chemistry actually started among the Arabs. Let's get to know one of the earliest ones - Al-Kindi.
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Famous Scientists - Claudine Picardet
For a long time, women were never allowed to do scientific research. Yet they played many important roles by writing books, being laboratory assistants and sometimes sponsors of scientists. Claudine Picardet was one such, for she conducted a 'salon' in 18th century France, where scientists could meet and discuss.
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Famous Scientists - Jane Marcet
The Human Touch of Chemistry was created with the idea of making chemistry easy to understand, and great fun too. But even we were surprised to know that Mrs. Jane Marcet had just the same idea - 206 years ago!
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Famous Scientists - Herman von Helmholtz
Whether you're waiting for your noodles to get cooked, or racing along in a car, did you know thermodynamics is at work? That's a science which owes a lot to Hermann von Helmholtz.
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Famous Scientists - Josiah Willard Gibbs
We read a little about Hermann von Helmholtz, the founder of thermodynamics, last week. But it was really Josiah Gibbs who helped it develop into a great science, which is followed by all chemists today. Let's know more about him.
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Famous Scientists - Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran
Every time you use a computer (such as in reading this article), you make use of the element gallium. It is an important component of semiconductors. Did you know it was Francois Lecoq who discovered it?
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Famous Scientists - Emilie du Chatelet
While today many women are famous scientists, till just a few centuries back, they weren't allowed to do scientific research or even learn science. Emilie du Chatelet was one of the first women to break the barrier and become a practising scientist.
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Famous Scientists - Gilbert Newton Lewis
Different kinds of reactions happen between chemicals. We know that metals give electrons to non-metals to form salts. But many compounds exist, which are formed by non-metals alone. It was Gilbert Lewis who explained how these compounds are formed.
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Famous Scientists - Helen Abbott Michael
Today we are able to genetically engineer plants to produce various useful chemicals. But did you know that this ability traces back to Helen Michael, who was among the first to study the chemical properties of plants?
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Everyday Chemistry - Video: Mountaintop Chemistry
Did you think chemistry meant there had to be a big lab with lots of gadgets? Here's a video, where scientists make an anti-cancer drug - in a tent on top of a mountain!
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History & Future - A tale about the frigid lakes of titan
It is easy to pick out Saturn in a map of our solar system. You see it portrayed with its beautiful rings that surround the planet. Today scientists are discovering that one of the moons of Saturn, Titan has the chemistry properties to make it viable to sustain life.
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History & Future - An alternative to plastic - smart mud
Plastic plays an important role in our lives. From the toothbrush that you use in the morning to the alarm clock you set at night, it is very likely that you use some plastic everyday. Japanese scientists have now discovered a new substance that promises to be a possible alternative to plastic.
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History & Future - The future of biofuels
Biofuels has long been considered an alternative to traditional fossil fuels. In the 80's this was one of the most popular solutions to the planets fuel crisis. Scientists today are realising the drawbacks of using this as an alternative to normal fuels.
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History & Future - Photosynthesis-the future of biofuels?
We have heard that photosynthesis is the process by which a plant converts solar energy to chemical energy by using chlorophyll. What you might not know is that scientists in France have discovered a way to use the same photosynthesis into electrical energy.
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History & Future - Biomimetics - materials for the future
Over millions of years, plants and animals have evolved materials with amazing properties - the sticky feet of geckos, spiders' silk, self-cleaning lotus leaves. Scientists are now learning to make products in the lab that imitate their properties; these are called biomimetics.
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History & Future - The strings of life: discovering DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), is sometimes called the most important chemical on earth, because it makes up our genes. But did you know the tale of its discovery was a long journey, involving many scientists?
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History & Future - The Royal Society
When you have a bright idea, who do you share it with? When scientists have a bright idea, they share it with other scientists in a 'learned society'. This tradition was begun by Britain's Royal Society.
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History & Future - Crystallography - The Beautiful Science
Last year, Venkatraman 'Venki' Ramakrishnan won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering how the ribosome works. The method he uses has helped a lot of other scientists Maurice Wilkins, Linus Pauling and Dorothy Hodgkin win the Prize too. It's called Crystallography.
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History & Future - Unweaving the Rainbow
The English poet Keats wrote a famous poem called Lamia, criticising scientists. He lamented that they had 'unwoven the rainbow' - i.e. by explaining how a rainbow is created, destroyed its beauty. But the science that explains a rainbow, also explains the secrets of life and the birth of the universe!
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History & Future - The Many Ages of Ice
We've heard scientists telling us that global warming is causing the ice in Antarctica and the Arctic Ocean to melt. Did you know that these ice sheets hold some secret stories in them? It's the story of how our earth's atmosphere changed over many millions of years!
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History & Future - The Hydrogen Economy
Today, we rely on carbon-based fuels for almost all our energy needs. Coal is used for electricity and petroleum products for moving vehicles. But these cause pollution and global warming. Many scientists and economists have suggested moving to a hydrogen-based economy.
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History & Future - Origins of Life: Biochemical Evolution
Fossilized bacteria inform the scientists the story of how life may have evolved in the unique environment of primordial Earth 3.8 billion years ago. Let us find out how life started....
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Famous Scientists - Svante Arrhenius
Svante Arrhenius was one of the first chemists in the field of physical chemistry. He was the first person to discover the effect of global warming. His experiments focus on the effect of the doubling of the amount of carbon dioxide gas on the environment. Even today the issue of global warming is still debated and extensive research is conducted in this field.
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Famous Scientists - Sir William Ramsay
Sir William Ramsay was the Scottish scientist who discovered the noble gases. These gases are argon, neon, krypton and xenon. These gases along with helium and radon formed a new set of elements. For this discovery, Ramsay was awarded the Noble Prize in 1904.
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Famous Scientists - Sir Humphry Davy
Sir Humphry Davy was an electrochemist who discovered several alkalis. He discovered elements like chlorine and iodine Davy is also remembered for brightening the lives of miners by making the miners safety lamp, now called the Davy lamp.
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Famous Scientists - Robert Boyle
We have all done litmus tests at school. How many of us know that Robert Boyle is the inventor of the litmus test. Considered to be the founder of modern chemistry, Robert Boyle was a scientist of the 17th century. Boyle is remembered for his law about the relationship between pressure and volume of gasses.
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Famous Scientists - Joseph Priestley
Ever had a sip of soda and marvelled at the fact how a little fizz makes it different from fruit juices? Joseph Priestley added fizz in our life with the discovery of soda water and oxygen.
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Famous Scientists - John Dalton
Best-known for his work in modern atomic theory, John Dalton was an English chemist, meteorologist and physicist. The son of a weaver, Dalton's major contribution to the field of chemistry is his atomic theory proposed in 1803. In the theory he reasoned that tiny particles called atoms make up elements.
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Famous Scientists - Jacobus Henricus
Born in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Jacobus Henricus van't Hoff is known for his contribution in physical chemistry. He conducted extensive research in the fields of chemical equilibrium, osmotic pressure and stereochemistry, for which he received his first Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
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Famous Scientists - Wendell Stanley
What if you had to deal with viruses for the most of your active life? Sounds dangerous, doesn't it? Well, that's what Wendell Stanley chose as his career. He was an American biochemist who received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work on purification and crystallization of viruses to demonstrate their molecular structure. He is the man even experts turn to when they have problems with viruses.
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Famous Scientists - Sir Robert Robinson
Imagine what would happen if there were no drugs to cure Malaria. That's a scary situation, isn't it? Sir Robert Robinson's research in organic chemistry with the structure and synthesis of organic bodies led to the production of anti-malarial drugs.
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Famous Scientists - Marie Curie
Today, we talk about radioactivity and radioactive elements. But do you know who coined the term 'radioactivity''? Yes, it was the Nobel Prize winning Marie Curie. She discovered two important elements - Radium and Polonium, which you will be able to easily spot in the periodic table. Marie Curie dedicated her entire life for research on radioactive elements.
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Famous Scientists - Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac
Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac is quite popular in the world of chemistry. He is remembered for his laws on gases, known as Gay Lussac's laws. His two laws deal with volumes, pressures and temperatures of gases and the relationship between them.
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Famous Scientists - Daniel Rutherford
We all love to munch on chips. Have you ever wondered how these chips stay so fresh? If you look closely at the packet, you will realise that the preservative gas used is Nitrogen. The first person to discover nitrogen was Daniel Rutherford in 1772.
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Famous Scientists - Amedeo Avogadro
Today it is very easy for us to define what an atom or molecule is. In the early days of science there was a lot of debate about this. It was Amedeo Avogadro who helped tell the difference between compounds, molecules and atoms.
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Famous Scientists - Adolf von Baeyer
Baeyer is a German chemist who synthesised indigo, the stuff that is used to make your jeans blue in colour. He won the Nobel Prize for his work in organic chemistry and with synthetic dyes
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Famous Scientists - Emil Fischer
Emil Fischer is known in the world of chemistry for discovering the peptide bond. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for his work on the structure and properties of purines and sugars.
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Famous Scientists - Wilhelm Ostwald
Friedrich Wilhelm Ostwald was the son of Gottfried Wilhelm Ostwald and Elisabeth Leuckel. He was a Baltic German chemist whose work on catalysis, chemical equilibrium and reaction velocities won him the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1909.
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Famous Scientists - Henri Moissan
Henri Moissan was a French chemist, born in Paris on September 28, 1852. He won the 1906 Nobel Prize for his work in isolating fluorine from its compounds.
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Famous Scientists - Ernest Rutherford
Rutherford is considered to be the father of nuclear physics, being the first person to split the atom in 1917. He discovered that all atoms had their positive charge concentrated in a nucleus. He was awarded the Noble Prize for his work in the field.
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Famous Scientists - Edward Buchner
Eduard Buchner was a German chemist and zymologist. He won the 1907 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on the fermentation of carbohydrates.
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Famous Scientists - Arne Tiselius
Arne Tiselius was a Swedish biochemist, born on August 10, 1902 in Stockholm. He won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1948 for his work on electrophoresis and adsorption analysis.
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Famous Scientists - V. Ramakrishnan
V. Ramakrishnan is one of three scientists who was awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He was awarded the prize for his studies of the structure and function of the ribosome. His research is important in the field of medicine and hopefully will help develop new antibiotic cures.
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Famous Scientists - Alfred Werner
Alfred Werner was a Swiss chemist who won the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1913 for his research on coordination chemistry. He proposed the octahedral configuration of transition metal complexes and became the first inorganic chemist to win the prize.
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Famous Scientists - Otto Hahn
Otto Hahn a German chemist was one of the first scientists to break new ground in the field of radioactivity and radiochemistry. He won the Nobel Prize in 1944 for his discovery of nuclear fission. Due to his work he is often called 'the father of nuclear chemistry' and the 'founder of the atomic age'.
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Famous Scientists - Otto Wallach
Otto Wallach is the German Chemist who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on alicyclic compounds. One of his major contributions that he is known for is his isoprene rule and study of terpene which is used in turpentine today.
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Famous Scientists - Glenn Theodore Seaborg
Glenn Seaborg was born in Ishpeming, Michigan on April 19th, 1912. He was an American scientist who had a Scottish lineage. He won the Nobel Laureate in Chemistry in 1951 for his many discoveries in the field of Transuranium metals. He has many things named after him from the element Seaborgium to an asteroid called 4856 Seaborg.
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Famous Scientists - Theodor Svedberg
Theodor Svedberg was a Swedish chemist born in Flerang, Sweden on August 30th, 1884. He won the Nobel Prize for chemistry for his studies in the field of colloids and also for the invention of the ultracentrifuge in 1926.
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Famous Scientists - Frederic Joliot Curie & Irene Joliot-Curie
Frederic Joliot-Curie and Irene Joliot-Curie were both French scientists. Husband and wife, they were jointly awarded Nobel laureates in 1935 for their joint discovery of new radioactive isotopes which they prepared artificially. They are also known for their contribution towards the discovery of the neutron.
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Famous Scientists - Victor Grignard & Paul Sabatier
Francois Auguste Victor Grignard and Paul Sabatier were joint Noble Laureates for chemistry in the year 1912. They were both French chemists who started their careers in different fields, mathematics and physics, but made respectable contributions to the field of chemistry later in their life.
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Famous Scientists - Carl Bosch
Carl Bosch was born on 27th August, 1874 in Cologne, Germany. He was a German chemist and engineer. Carl won the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1931 for his contribution in the introduction of high pressure chemistry. The asteroid- 7414 Bosch was named after him in his honour.
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Famous Scientists - William Giauque
William Giauque was born on 12th May, 1895 in Niagara Falls, Canada. Giauque was a chemist and won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1949.
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Famous Scientists - John Northrop
John Howard Northrop was a joint winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1946 for his work on purifying enzymes, proteins and viruses.
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Famous Scientists - Gerhard Herzberg
Gerhard Herzberg was born on the 25th December, 1904, in Hamburg, Germany. A pioneer in both chemistry and physical chemistry, he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1971. The asteroid 3316 Herzberg too is named after him.
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Famous Scientists - Theodore Richards
Theodore Richards was the first American to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He was awarded it in 1914 for accurately determining the atomic weight of 25 elements.
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Famous Scientists - Francis Aston
Francis William Aston won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering isotopes by conducting mass spectrograph of isotopes. He conducted this research in a large amount of non-radioactive elements. He is also remembered for his whole-number rule.
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Famous Scientists - Frederick Soddy
Remembered for his contributions in the field of radiochemistry and the discovery of isotopes, Frederick Soddy won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1921.
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Famous Scientists - Fritz Haber
Fritz Haber was a German chemist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on synthesising ammonia, important fertilisers and explosives.
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Famous Scientists - Walther Hermann Nernst
Walther Hermann Nernst won the 1920 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on thermochemistry.
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Famous Scientists - Fritz Pregl
Austrian chemist Fritz Pregl won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his contribution in the field of quantitative organic microanalysis. He played a major role in helping develop the combustion train technique of elemental analysis.
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Famous Scientists - Heinrich Wieland
The son of Theodor Wieland and Elise Blum, Heinrich Wieland won the 1927 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research in bile acids.
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Famous Scientists - Adolf Windaus
German chemist Adolf Otto Reinhold Windaus, is remembered for his work on sterols and their relation to vitamins for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1928.
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Famous Scientists - Richard Adolf Zsigmondy
Hungarian born Richard Adolf Zsigmondy was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work on Colloids.
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Famous Scientists - Arthur Harden
Arthur Harden was a biochemist who jointly won the 1929 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work on the fermentation of sugars and fermentative enzymes. He shared this prize with Hans Karl August Simon von Euler-Chelpin.
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Famous Scientists - Friedrich Bergius
German chemist Friedrich Bergius was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1951. He won this award in recognition for his invention and development of chemical high-pressure methods.
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Famous Scientists - Hans Fischer
Hans Fischer won the 1930 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his contribution to the field of biochemistry. He did extensive work on the chemistry of pyrrole and the synthesis of haemin.
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Famous Scientists - Hans von Euler-Chelpin
Hans von Euler-Chelpin jointly won the 1929 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for research in the fermenting of sugar and fermentative enzymes.
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Famous Scientists - Sir Walter Norman Haworth
The British chemist W. N. Haworth made important contributions to biochemistry, including his study of Vitamin C. He won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1937 along with Paul Karrer, and was knighted in 1947.
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Famous Scientists - Harold Urey
We owe a lot of our understanding of the field of isotopes to Harold Urey, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1934. Urey also contributed to building the atom bomb and notably the development of organic life from non-living matter.
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Famous Scientists - Irving Langmuir
The 1932 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Irving Langmuir for his work on surface chemistry. He has contributed to several developments in the field of chemistry and physics.
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Famous Scientists - Paul Karrer
The Swiss chemist Paul Karrer made important contributions to the study of vitamins. He won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1937 along with W.N. Haworth.
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Famous Scientists - Peter Debye
Peter Debye walked away with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1936 for his contributions in the field of physical chemistry.
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Famous Scientists - James Lovelock
Today, we know that CFCs threaten the earth by destroying the ozone hole. For this knowledge, we must thank James Lovelock, who first detected that CFCs were being released into the atmosphere.
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Famous Scientists - Frank Rowland and Mario Molina
In 1987, countries around the world agreed upon the Montreal Protocol, a treaty to eliminate chemicals which deplete the ozone layer. Frank Rowland and Mario Molino deserve the credit for this, for they showed exactly how CFCs destroy ozone.
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Famous Scientists - Paul Crutzen
While the role of CFCs in depleting the ozone layer is well-known, there are many other gases that deplete ozone and act as greenhouse gases. The role of these gases was explained by Paul Crutzen, who got the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1995.
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Famous Scientists - Ryoji Noyori
Some scientists love science simply because it is wonderful. Some pursue science because they feel "Research is for nations and mankind, not for researchers themselves". Prof. Ryoji Noyori firmly believes in the latter.
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Famous Scientists - Richard Martin Willstatter
You know that plants are green because they contain chlorophyll. You also know that chlorophyll is important for photosynthesis. But do you know that it was a scientist called Richard Martin Willstatter who discovered it?
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Famous Scientists - Robert Grubbs
As the 21st century progresses, we're all aware that that our lives need to become more eco-friendly. Green chemistry is a way to make that happen. One of the pioneers of green chemistry is Robert Howard Grubbs.
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Famous Scientists - Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier
Few things are as important as water, which we know is made of oxygen and hydrogen. Did you know that Antoine Lavoisier was the discoverer of both elements?
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Famous Scientists - Richard Schrock
Richard Royce Schrock won a Nobel Prize for his contribution to metathesis, a chemical process that laid the foundation of green chemistry.
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Famous Scientists - Pliny the Elder
When you read an encyclopaedia, ever wondered who had the patience to put it all together? One of the world's oldest encyclopaedias was put together by a Roman writer called Gaius Plinius Secundus, or Pliny the Ender.
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Famous Scientists - Yves Chauvin
Often our elders tell us to stick to the 'tried and tested'. But the best scientists have been those who refused to follow the familiar. One such is Yves Chauvin, who says you must steer clear of methods perfected over time!
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Famous Scientists - Jbir ibn Hayyn
In chemistry practicals, you mix chemicals in test tubes, grind them in mortars and boil them in retorts. Did you know that many of these common equipment and procedures were devised more than a thousand years ago by Jbir ibn Hayyn?
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Famous Scientists - Enrico Fermi
As fossil fuels become rarer, people are searching for alternative sources of energy. One of the most promising, yet controversial, is energy generated from nuclear reactions. Much of our knowledge of these reactions is owed to the Italian scientist Enrico Fermi.
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Famous Scientists - William Henry Perkin
In an earlier article we discussed dyes. But for a long time, dyes like Royal Purple were extremely expensive. Did you know that dyes became affordable to many because of William Henry Perkin?
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Famous Scientists - Ardaseer Cursetjee Wadia
Last week we learned about the Royal Society. Ardaseer Cursetjee Wadia was mentioned in it as the first Indian FRS. Let's get to know him better.
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Famous Scientists - Stephanie Kwolek
Last month we saw how a bullet-proof jacket works. Did you wonder how the material that it is made of - Kevlar - was discovered? And by whom? Then let's meet Stephanie Kwolek.
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Famous Scientists - Rachel Fuller Brown
What's common to fungal infections in babies, Dutch Elm disease in trees and mouldy works of art? They can all be cured by a drug called nystatin. And the story of the woman who discovered it - Rachel Fuller Brown - has a lot to learn from.
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Famous Scientists - Jagdish Chandra Bose
What happens if you take a rich magistrate's son and make him learn in a village school sitting besides the sons of servants and fishermen? He'll hear tales of birds and animals that make him curious about Nature. And that makes him one of India's first scientists - Jagdish Chandra Bose.
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Famous Scientists - Rosalind Elsie Franklin
A woman scientist from Cambridge University published an article in the April 25, 1953 on the journal Nature about the molecular structure of DNA. However two male scientists had written another article on the same subject in the same issue of the magazine. Those male scientists - Francis Crick and James Watson - got all the credit. The woman, Rosalind Franklin, vanished into history.
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Famous Scientists - Linus Carl Pauling
The power of science is often hard to know. How does a scientist know that what he has discovered will put to a good use, and not a bad one? Throughout his life, Linus Pauling grappled with this difficulty.
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Famous Scientists - Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev
Imagine if there was an element no one had ever seen before, but one day you announce that you know all its properties. People will call you crazy, won't they? But that's what Dmitri Mendeleev did!
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Famous Scientists - Ahmed Hassan Zewail
In a little town called Damanhur, Egypt, a little boy was very fond of learning science. His family dreamed that he would become a great professor some day. So they posted a small sign "Dr. Ahmed" outside his study to encourage him. He grew up to be one of the greatest chemists of our times - Prof. Ahmed Zewail.
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Famous Scientists - Kathleen Lonsdale
Women have often had a tough time in science - first getting jobs, and then getting enough recognition for their research. Kathleen Lonsdale's life is a great inspiration to girls who want to become scientists. She showed they are as good (or even better) than boys.
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Famous Scientists - Prafulla Chandra Ray
Many scientists are happy to make their discoveries, but are not interested in making a business of it. But a few rare ones understand why it's important to build bridges between science and industry. Prafulla Chandra Ray was the first Indian to realise this.
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Famous Scientists - Thomas Graham
You might have heard of someone whose kidney has a problem and needs something called dialysis regularly. This life-saving process was invented by Thomas Graham.
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Famous Scientists - August Kekule
Few scientists have left a stamp on chemistry as August Kekule has. Even today, chemists celebrate his life and work like a hero. So let's learn a bit more about him!
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Famous Scientists - Fausto de Elhuyar
Tungsten is everywhere in our lives. A tungsten filament gives us light whenever we switch a tubelight or CFL on. Let's have a look at the chemists who discovered this vital element.
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Famous Scientists - Hermann Kolbe
In the 19th century, people believed in a theory called vitalism. It said that a mysterious 'life-force' was required to make the organic chemicals found in our bodies. Hermann Kolbe was among the scientists who disproved the theory, by showing that chemicals could be made in the lab.
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Famous Scientists - James Dewar
All of us know that chemistry is the science that studies the materials that are important to our lives. But did you know that one field, physical chemistry, is particularly important? Let's meet one of the most renowned physical chemists ever.
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Famous Scientists - Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Abdallah ibn Sina
When a drug is introduced to market, it must undergo a number of clinical trials to show that it really cures a disease. But a long time ago, doctors would hand out medicine based on hearsay or even imagination. So who changed it all?
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Famous Scientists - Dorothy Mary Hodgkin
What's common to diabetes, pernicious anaemaia and infectious diseases? We know a lot about how to deal with them because of one woman - Dorothy Hodgkin.
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Famous Scientists - Artturi Ilmari Virtanen
A lot of the food we eat must be processed with chemicals so that it is ready to eat, both for humans and animals. Agricultural chemistry is the field that does this, and Arturi Virtanen is considered the star of this field!
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Famous Scientists - Hevesy Gyorgy
If you know someone who has cancer, they might probably have gone for a PET scan to find out how much the cancer has developed. PET scans make uses of radioisotopes. Their use in medicine was pioneered by Hevesy Gyorgy.
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Famous Scientists - Satyendra Nath Bose
If you make a landmark discovery, but no journal is willing to publish it, what do you do? If you are Satyendra Nath Bose, you send it to the most famous scientist in the world.
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Famous Scientists - Agnes Pockels
As we celebrate the International Year of Chemistry we realise that anyone can discover a great scientific theory. Would you believe us that a woman without a college education, discovered such a theory while washing dishes in the kitchen sink? She was Agnes Pockels!
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Famous Scientists - Elizabeth Fulhame
Three centuries ago, women were expected to stick to 'womanly' activities such as painting and weaving, and not try to do 'manly' things like scientific experiments. But one woman refused to be so limited - Elizabeth Fulhame.
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Famous Scientists - Marie-Anne Lavoisier
Antoine Lavoisier is often called the greatest chemist ever, for his amazing discoveries. But did you know that his wife was a great chemist too - the secret of his success? As we celebrate the International Year of Chemistry it seems apt that today on her birth anniversary, we know more about her.
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Famous Scientists - Allene Rosalind Jeanes
Often we know of a chemical or a device that helps save lives, but we don't know the person who made it possible. So in the international year of chemistry, we thought we'll introduce you to some such people. One of them is Allene Jeanes.
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Famous Scientists - Irina Beletskaya
Can you do advanced scientific research, even when there is very little money available to buy chemicals and equipment? If you are Prof. Irina Beletskaya, you always find a way.
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Famous Scientists - Ya'qub Al-Kindi
When you study chemistry at school, have you wondered how it all started? While most famous chemists are Europeans and Americans, chemistry actually started among the Arabs. Let's get to know one of the earliest ones - Al-Kindi.
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Famous Scientists - Claudine Picardet
For a long time, women were never allowed to do scientific research. Yet they played many important roles by writing books, being laboratory assistants and sometimes sponsors of scientists. Claudine Picardet was one such, for she conducted a 'salon' in 18th century France, where scientists could meet and discuss.
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Famous Scientists - Jane Marcet
The Human Touch of Chemistry was created with the idea of making chemistry easy to understand, and great fun too. But even we were surprised to know that Mrs. Jane Marcet had just the same idea - 206 years ago!
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Famous Scientists - Herman von Helmholtz
Whether you're waiting for your noodles to get cooked, or racing along in a car, did you know thermodynamics is at work? That's a science which owes a lot to Hermann von Helmholtz.
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Famous Scientists - Josiah Willard Gibbs
We read a little about Hermann von Helmholtz, the founder of thermodynamics, last week. But it was really Josiah Gibbs who helped it develop into a great science, which is followed by all chemists today. Let's know more about him.
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Famous Scientists - Paul Emile Lecoq de Boisbaudran
Every time you use a computer (such as in reading this article), you make use of the element gallium. It is an important component of semiconductors. Did you know it was Francois Lecoq who discovered it?
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Famous Scientists - Emilie du Chatelet
While today many women are famous scientists, till just a few centuries back, they weren't allowed to do scientific research or even learn science. Emilie du Chatelet was one of the first women to break the barrier and become a practising scientist.
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Famous Scientists - Gilbert Newton Lewis
Different kinds of reactions happen between chemicals. We know that metals give electrons to non-metals to form salts. But many compounds exist, which are formed by non-metals alone. It was Gilbert Lewis who explained how these compounds are formed.
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Famous Scientists - Helen Abbott Michael
Today we are able to genetically engineer plants to produce various useful chemicals. But did you know that this ability traces back to Helen Michael, who was among the first to study the chemical properties of plants?
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Best Chemistry Teacher -
The Association of Chemistry Teachers
The Association of Chemistry Teachers was launched in 2000 to serve as an apex national body of chemistry educators to promote excellence in chemistry education. The Association brings together on a common platform higher secondary school teachers, college and university lecturers, professors, scientists and researchers from industry for organizing subject related activities. Since its inception, ACT has worked tirelessly to strengthen chemistry education in India and to motivate students to pursue chemistry as a career.
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