Famous chemists and milestones

Chemists have shaped the modern world in many important ways.

Notable chemists

Some notable chemists are:

Joseph Priestley – discovered oxygen in 1774, helping to explain the combustion reaction
Alfred Nobel – invented dynamite in 1866 and established the prestigious Nobel Prizes
Dmitri Mendeleev – created the periodic table of elements and proposed the periodic law (also known as Mendeleev's law)
Marie Curie – was the pioneer in radioactivity research and discovered radium and polonium, winning two Nobel Prizes for her discoveries, one in Chemistry (1911) and the other in Physics (1903)
Rosalind Franklin – paved the way for the discovery of the molecular structure of DNA
Ellen Swallow Richards – was a pioneer in the field of sanitary engineering, helping to establish water-quality standards and the discipline of home economics in America.

There are so many important milestones in the field of chemistry. Some examples, which have earned their founders a Nobel Prize are:

the discovery of fullerenes by Professor Robert F. Curl, Harold W. Kroto and Richard E. Smalley (Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1996). A fullerene is a compound composed entirely of the element carbon. It has applications in several fields such as medicine, electronics, and polymer industry.
the discovery of gene-editing tool CRISPR by Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna (Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2020). CRISPR has numerous applications, specially in precision medicine, immunology, and agriculture.
the development of a process to synthesise ammonia using elements nitrogen and hydrogen by Fritz Haber (Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1918). Ammonia is used as a fertiliser to provide nitrogen to plants.
the discovery of macromolecules called polymers by Hermann Staudinger (Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1953). Polymers are giant molecules composed of smaller repeating units. They can be natural (such as cellulose, proteins, carbohydrates) or synthetic (nylon, polyethylene).
the identification of the molecular structure for vitamin B12 by Dorothy Crowfoot (Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1964). Deficiency of vitamin B12 causes anaemia (where the body lacks healthy red blood cells), leading to weakness in the body, nerve damage, and poor memory.