This is a list of women chemists. It should include those who have been important to the development or practice of
chemistry. Their research or application has made significant contributions in the area of basic or applied chemistry.
Eight women have won the
Nobel Prize in Chemistry (listed above), awarded annually since 1901 by the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Marie Curie was the first woman to receive the prize in 1911, which was her second Nobel Prize (she also won the prize in physics in 1903, along with
Pierre Curie and
Henri Becquerel – making her the only woman to be award two Nobel prizes). Her prize in chemistry was for her "discovery of the elements radium and polonium, by the isolation of radium and the study of the nature and compounds of this remarkable element."
Irene Joliot-Curie, Marie's daughter, became the second woman to be awarded this prize in 1935 for her discovery of artificial radioactivity.
Dorothy Hodgkin won the prize in 1964 for the development of
protein crystallography. Among her significant discoveries are the structures of
penicillin and
vitamin B12. Forty five years later, Ada Yonath shared the prize with
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and
Thomas A. Steitz for the study of the structure and function of the
ribosome. Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A Doudna won the 2020 prize in chemistry “for the development of a method for genome editing.”[2] Charpentier and Doudna are the first women to share the Nobel Prize in chemistry.[3]
2006 –
Ada Yonath "for ingenious structural discoveries of the ribosomal machinery of peptide-bond formation and the light-driven primary processes in photosynthesis.[4]
2022 –
Bonnie L. Bassler and
Carolyn R. Bertozzi "for their seminal contributions to understanding the chemistry of cellular communication and inventing chemical methodologies to study the role of carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins in such biological processes."[5]
The following list is split into the centuries when the majority of the scientist's work was performed. The scientist's listed may be born and perform work outside of the century they are listed under.
Louise Hammarström (1849–1917), Swedish mineral chemist, first formally educated female Swedish chemist
Edith Humphrey (1875–1978), Inorganic chemist, probably the first British woman to gain a doctorate in chemistry
Julia Lermontova (1846–1919), Russian chemist, first Russian female doctorate in chemistry
Laura Linton (1853–1915), American chemist, teacher, and physician
Rachel Lloyd (1839–1900), First American female to earn a doctorate in chemistry, first regularly admitted female member of the
American Chemical Society, studied sugar beets
Fanny Rysan Mulford Hitchcock (1851–1936), one of thirteen (American) women to graduate with a degree in chemistry in the 1800s, and the first to graduate with a doctorate in philosophy of chemistry. Her areas of focus were in
entomology, fish
osteology, and plant
pathology.[6]
Maria Skłodowska-Curie (1867–1934), Polish-French physicist and chemist (discoverer of
polonium and
radium, pioneer in
radiology); Nobel laureate in physics 1903, and in chemistry 1911
Emily Balskus, American organic and biological chemist, and microbiologist. Recipient of the 2020 Alan T. Waterman Award for her work on understanding the chemistry of metabolic processes. Professor at Harvard University.
Sherry Chemler, American Organic Chemist. Professor University at Buffalo.[8][9] ACS Cope Scholar Award recipient (2017).[10]
Paula T. Hammond, American chemical engineer focusing on macromolecular design and synthesis of materials for drug delivery systems, particularly in relation to cancer, immunology, and immunotherapy. Professor at MIT.[7][20]
Jeanne Hardy, American biophysicist and chemical biologist. Known for her work in the design of
allosteric binding sites and control elements into human
proteases.[21] Professor at the University of Massachusetts.
Geraldine Harriman, American Organic Chemist. Developed
Firsocostat. Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder of HotSpot.[22][23]
Rachel Haurwitz, American biochemist and structural biologist. Her work regards
CRISPR based technologies, she is a cofounder of Caribou Biosciences, a genome editing and cell therapy development company.[24]
Sarah O'Connor, American plant synthetic biologist working in England
Gillian Reid, British inorganic chemist. President elect (2020-present) and present (2022-present) of the
Royal Society of Chemistry. Professor at the University of Southampton.
^Creese, Mary (1998). Ladies in the Laboratory? American and British Women in Science, 1800-1900: A Survey of their Research (1st ed.). Lanham, MD & London: The Scarecrow Press. p. 256.
ISBN0810832879.
This is a list of women chemists. It should include those who have been important to the development or practice of
chemistry. Their research or application has made significant contributions in the area of basic or applied chemistry.
Eight women have won the
Nobel Prize in Chemistry (listed above), awarded annually since 1901 by the
Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Marie Curie was the first woman to receive the prize in 1911, which was her second Nobel Prize (she also won the prize in physics in 1903, along with
Pierre Curie and
Henri Becquerel – making her the only woman to be award two Nobel prizes). Her prize in chemistry was for her "discovery of the elements radium and polonium, by the isolation of radium and the study of the nature and compounds of this remarkable element."
Irene Joliot-Curie, Marie's daughter, became the second woman to be awarded this prize in 1935 for her discovery of artificial radioactivity.
Dorothy Hodgkin won the prize in 1964 for the development of
protein crystallography. Among her significant discoveries are the structures of
penicillin and
vitamin B12. Forty five years later, Ada Yonath shared the prize with
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan and
Thomas A. Steitz for the study of the structure and function of the
ribosome. Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A Doudna won the 2020 prize in chemistry “for the development of a method for genome editing.”[2] Charpentier and Doudna are the first women to share the Nobel Prize in chemistry.[3]
2006 –
Ada Yonath "for ingenious structural discoveries of the ribosomal machinery of peptide-bond formation and the light-driven primary processes in photosynthesis.[4]
2022 –
Bonnie L. Bassler and
Carolyn R. Bertozzi "for their seminal contributions to understanding the chemistry of cellular communication and inventing chemical methodologies to study the role of carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins in such biological processes."[5]
The following list is split into the centuries when the majority of the scientist's work was performed. The scientist's listed may be born and perform work outside of the century they are listed under.
Louise Hammarström (1849–1917), Swedish mineral chemist, first formally educated female Swedish chemist
Edith Humphrey (1875–1978), Inorganic chemist, probably the first British woman to gain a doctorate in chemistry
Julia Lermontova (1846–1919), Russian chemist, first Russian female doctorate in chemistry
Laura Linton (1853–1915), American chemist, teacher, and physician
Rachel Lloyd (1839–1900), First American female to earn a doctorate in chemistry, first regularly admitted female member of the
American Chemical Society, studied sugar beets
Fanny Rysan Mulford Hitchcock (1851–1936), one of thirteen (American) women to graduate with a degree in chemistry in the 1800s, and the first to graduate with a doctorate in philosophy of chemistry. Her areas of focus were in
entomology, fish
osteology, and plant
pathology.[6]
Maria Skłodowska-Curie (1867–1934), Polish-French physicist and chemist (discoverer of
polonium and
radium, pioneer in
radiology); Nobel laureate in physics 1903, and in chemistry 1911
Emily Balskus, American organic and biological chemist, and microbiologist. Recipient of the 2020 Alan T. Waterman Award for her work on understanding the chemistry of metabolic processes. Professor at Harvard University.
Sherry Chemler, American Organic Chemist. Professor University at Buffalo.[8][9] ACS Cope Scholar Award recipient (2017).[10]
Paula T. Hammond, American chemical engineer focusing on macromolecular design and synthesis of materials for drug delivery systems, particularly in relation to cancer, immunology, and immunotherapy. Professor at MIT.[7][20]
Jeanne Hardy, American biophysicist and chemical biologist. Known for her work in the design of
allosteric binding sites and control elements into human
proteases.[21] Professor at the University of Massachusetts.
Geraldine Harriman, American Organic Chemist. Developed
Firsocostat. Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder of HotSpot.[22][23]
Rachel Haurwitz, American biochemist and structural biologist. Her work regards
CRISPR based technologies, she is a cofounder of Caribou Biosciences, a genome editing and cell therapy development company.[24]
Sarah O'Connor, American plant synthetic biologist working in England
Gillian Reid, British inorganic chemist. President elect (2020-present) and present (2022-present) of the
Royal Society of Chemistry. Professor at the University of Southampton.
^Creese, Mary (1998). Ladies in the Laboratory? American and British Women in Science, 1800-1900: A Survey of their Research (1st ed.). Lanham, MD & London: The Scarecrow Press. p. 256.
ISBN0810832879.