Great Chemists

What would life be like if nobody had ever studied

chemistry? Everything is made of chemicals.Youare made
of chemicals. So is your dog. So is your desk. So is thesun.
Drugs are chemicals. Food is made from chemicals.
Many of the changes you observe in the world around you
are caused by chemical reactions. Examples include
changingcolors of leaves,cooking foodandgetting clean.
Knowing some chemistry can help you make day to day
decisions that affect your life. Can I mix these
household chemicals? What aresafe mosquito repellents?
Will mybottled waterexpire?

Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev (8 February 1834 2 February

1907) was a Russianchemistand inventor. He formulated the
Periodic Law, created his own version of theperiodic tableof
elements, and used it to correct the properties of some already
discovered elements and also to predict the properties of eight
elements yet to be discovered.

By adding additional elements following this pattern, Dmitri developed his

extended version of the periodic table.[On 6 March 1869, Mendeleev
made a formal presentation to theRussian Chemical Society, entitledThe
Dependence between the Properties of the Atomic Weights of the
Elements, which described elements according to bothatomic weightand
valence. This presentation stated that
The elements, if arranged according to their atomic weight, exhibit an
apparent periodicity of properties.
Elements which are similar regarding their chemical properties have
atomic weights which are either of nearly the same value (e.g., Pt, Ir, Os)
or which increase regularly (e.g., K, Rb, Cs).
The arrangement of the elements in groups of elements in the order of
their atomic weights corresponds to their so-called valencies, as well as,
to some extent, to their distinctive chemical properties; as is apparent
among other series in that of Li, Be, B, C, N, O, and F.
The elements which are the most widely diffused have small atomic
weights.
The magnitude of the atomic weight determines the character of the
element, just as the magnitude of the molecule determines the character
of a compound body.
We must expect the discovery of many yet unknown elementsfor
example, two elements, analogous to aluminium andsilicon, whose
atomic weights would be between 65 and 75.
Certain characteristic properties of elements can be foretold from their
atomic weights.

 Marie Skodowska-Curie(7 November 1867 4 July

1934) was aPolish and naturalized-Frenchphysicistand
chemistwho conducted pioneering research on
radioactivity. She was the
first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person and
only woman towin twice, the only person to win twice in
multiple sciences, and was part of the Curie family
legacy offive Nobel Prizes. She was also the first woman
to become a professor at theUniversity of Paris, and in
1995 became the
first woman to be entombed on her own
merits in thePanthonin Paris.

Her achievements included a theory

ofradioactivity(a term that she coined),
techniques for isolating radioactiveisotopes,
and the discovery of two elements,polonium
andradium. Under her direction, the world's
first studies were conducted into the
treatment ofneoplasms, using radioactive
isotopes. She founded the
Curie Institutes in Parisandin Warsaw,
which remain major centres of medical
research today. DuringWorld War I, she
established the first military field radiological
centres.
While a French citizen, Marie Skodowska
Curie (she used both surnames)never
lost her sense ofPolish identity. She
taught her daughters thePolish language
and took them on visits to Poland.She
named the firstchemical elementthat
she discovered polonium, which she
isolated in 1898 after her native
country.

Louis Pasteur (18221895)

Famous For:The process of
Pasteurization and creation of
Vaccines for Rabies and Anthrax
In addition to developing the
process of Pasteurization, Louis
Pasteur discovered the
assymetrical molecular
structure on certain crytals. He
made some of the earliest
vaccines for rabies and anthrax,
and the reduction of a bacterial
infection in what is known as
puerperal fever.

Pasteur was responsible for crushing the doctrine of

spontaneous generation . He performed experiments that
showed that without contamination, microorganisms
could not develop. Under the auspices of the
French Academy of Sciences , he demonstrated that in
sterilized and sealed flasks nothing ever developed, and
in sterilized but open flasks microorganisms could grow.
This experiment won him the Alhumbert Prize of the
academy

Antoine Lavoisier (17431

794)
Famous For:Being the
Father of Modern Chemistry
Lavoisier was able to show
the relationship between
oxygen and metal, resulting
in rust. He also was able to
show the role of oxygen in
plant respiration and in
animals. It was he who
showed that water was made
of hydrogen and oxygen, and
that air was composed mainly
of oxygen and nitrogen in its
gaseous state.

It is generally accepted that Lavoisier's great

accomplishments in chemistry largely stem from his
changing the science from a qualitative to a
quantitative one. Lavoisier is most noted for his
discovery of the roleoxygenplays incombustion. He
recognized and namedoxygen(1778) andhydrogen
(1783) and opposed thephlogiston theory. Lavoisier
helped construct themetric system, wrote the first
extensivelist of elements, and helped to reform
chemical nomenclature. He predicted the existence
ofsilicon(1787)[5]and was also the first to establish
that sulfur was an element (1777) rather than a
compound.[6]He discovered that, although matter
may change its form or shape,
its mass always remains the same.