Significant figures
Celebrating scientists of the past whose achievements were overlooked in their own times, whether through sexism, racism or any other reason
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OpinionBetty Wright Harris’s explosive career
Hayley Bennett tells the story of a Black chemist who studied energetic materials – and ways to detect them
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OpinionMasataka Ogawa and the search for nipponium
Could a Japanese scientist, whose claim to have discovered an element was dismissed, been right all along? Kit Chapman investigates
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OpinionElizabeth Fulhame, the 18th century chemistry pioneer who faded from history
More than 200 years ago, a female chemist introduced the concept of catalysis and made early steps towards photography. Rachel Brazil develops her story
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OpinionWilliam Knox, the only Black supervisor in the Manhattan Project
The story of the Knox family is one of education overcoming adversity, finds Kit Chapman
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OpinionMargaret Melhase Fuchs and the radioactive isotope
Rebecca Trager tells the story of a brilliant female undergraduate who discovered caesium-137 in 1941 but was blocked from pursuing a PhD
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OpinionPC Ray: A genius chemist who dreamed of a modern India
Dinsa Sachan re-tells the story of the inorganic chemist who put Indian chemistry on the map
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OpinionJim West’s marvellous microphone
Ainissa Ramirez highlights an African American scientist who created one of the most used technologies of our modern age, but whose name is barely known by the general public
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OpinionMarie-Anne Paulze Lavoisier the invisible assistant
Could her famous husband have played such a key role in ‘the new chemistry’ without her? Hayley Bennett investigates
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OpinionJune Lindsey, another forgotten woman in the story of DNA
Her discovery of adenine and guanine’s structure was a key part of solving the DNA double helix puzzle – yet her contributions are almost forgotten
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OpinionJames LuValle, a chemist who broke the colour barrier
Sports or science? There was never really any competition for a Black Olympian who made significant contributions to Kodak’s colour film, as Hayley Bennett discovers
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OpinionThe lifesaving work of Evelyn Hickmans
Anne Green tells us how a female chemist almost single-handedly established paediatric clinical chemistry and led to a first in global health
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OpinionClara Immerwahr – out of her husband’s shadow
The tragic story of the chemist best known as Fritz Haber’s wife might not be as clear cut as many believe, finds Bárbara Pinho
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OpinionKathleen Culhane Lathbury – an industrial pioneer
Nina Notman tells the story of the interwar industrial chemist whose analytical skill and persistence saw her outmanoeuvre sexism and prove her research aptitude
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OpinionMabel FitzGerald and the mystery of oxygen sensing
Katharine Sanderson celebrates the tenacious and brilliant researcher who came tantalizingly close to describing oxygen sensing, a concept that earned the Nobel prize over 100 years later
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OpinionIda Noddack and the trouble with element 43
The German chemist discovered one element and may have been the first to suggest nuclear fission – but her legacy is troubled, as Rachel Brazil discovers
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OpinionPolly Porter, crystallography pioneer
Marelene and Geoff Rayner-Canham examine one of Dorothy Hodgkin’s mentors, who never studied at school or university
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OpinionMary Sherman Morgan: The best kept secret in the space race
Anna Demming reveals the scientist who invented the fuel that powered the first US satellite into orbit, yet died with barely a trace on record of her achievements
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OpinionJulia Lermontova: an early pioneer
Katharine Sanderson tells the story of a 19th century Russian chemist who made contributions across a range of chemistry
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OpinionMargarita Salas: the marquesa of molecular biology
Hayley Bennett celebrates the Spanish biochemist who flourished during the Franco era
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OpinionSylvia Stoesser – the first female chemist at Dow
Rebecca Trager explores the story of a pioneering industrial researcher, named on 29 patents, but whose research career ended with motherhood