Chemistry
The term, and discipline of, chemistry is an evolution of alchemy and is one of the original branches of natural philosophy. Ancient and medieval alchemy was often a spiritual practice, and at times involved the search and extraction of what was thought of as the purest metal (gold) from other metals.
In modern terms, chemistry is the study of matter, in particular the composition, structure properties, and behaviours of the building blocks of matter, including elements, molecules, and ions.
Since the scientific revolution, chemistry has continued to evolve into many different branches. Today we have chemists that specialise in the action and behaviour of molecules and compounds within biological systems (e.g., pharmacology), the atmosphere and earth (environmental chemistry), and the behaviours of radioactive substances (nuclear chemistry).
THE ANCIENT WORLD
Tapputi-Belatekallim (C.2000BC) - Babylonian Chemist; perfume maker
Fang (c.1st Century BC) - Chinese Alchemist
Mary the Prophetess (c.100-300AD) - Ancient Egyptian Alchemist
Cleopatra the Alchemist (c. 3rd Century AD) - Ancient Egyptian Alchemist; Chemist and Author
THE MIDDLE AGES
Keng Hsein-Seng (c.975AD) - Chinese Alchemist
Sun Bu'er (c.1119-1182) - Chinese Chemist
Dame Péronelle (1292-1319) - French Herbalist
16TH - 17th CENTURy
Helena Magenbuch (1523-1597) - German Pharmacist
Isabella Cortese (c.1561) - Italian Alchemist
Caterina Vitale (1566-1619) - Maltese Pharmacist
Marie Meurdrac (c.1610-1680) - French Chemist and alchemist
Elizabeth Walker (1623-1690) - English Pharmacist
18th Century
Geneviève Thiroux d'Arconville (1720-1805) - French Chemist
Lucia Galeazzi Galvani (1743-1788) - Italian Laboratory Scientist
Marie-Anne Pierrette Paulze Lavoisier (1758-1836) - French Chemist
Elizabeth Fulhame (c.1794) - Scottish Chemist
Anna Sundström (1795-1871) - Swedish Chemist
19th Century
Anna Volkova (1800-1876) - Russian Chemist
Marie Pasteur (1826-1910) - French Laboratory Scientist
Rachel Lloyd (1839-1900) - American Chemist
Ellen Swallow Richards (1842-1911) - American Chemist
Julia Lermontova (1846-1919) - Russian Chemist
Louise Hammarström (1849-1917) - Swedish Chemist
Laura Alberta Linton (1853-1915) - American Chemist
Nadezhda Olimpievna Ziber-Shumova (1856-1916) - Russian Chemist
Josephine Silone Yates (1859-1912) - American Chemist
Agnes Pockels (1862-1935) - German Chemist
Ida Freund (1863-1914) - Austrian Chemistry Lecturer
Vera Popova (1867-1896) - Russian Chemist
Marie Skłodowska-Curie (1867-1934) - Polish-French Chemist
Clara Immerwahr (1870-1915) - German Chemist
Mary Engle Pennington (1872-1952) - American Bacteriologist
Edith Humphrey (1875-1978) - English Inorganic Chemist
Ellen Gleditsch (1879-1968) - Norwegian Radiochemist
Elizabeth Lee Hazen (1885-1975) - American Chemist
Elizabeth Rona (1890-1981) - Hungarian Chemist
Lidija Liepiņa (1891-1985) - Latvian Chemist
Alice Ball (1892-1916) - American Pharmaceutical Chemist
Ida Noddack (1896-1978) - German Chemist and physicist
Rachel Fuller Brown (1898-1980) - American Chemist and Inventor
Christina Cruickshank Miller (1899-2001) - Scottish Chemist
20th Century-Present
Kathleen Lonsdale (1903-1971) - British Crystallographer
Ruby Hirose (1904-1960) - American Chemist
Helen Megaw (1907-2002) - Irish Crystallographer
Rosalind Pitt-Rivers (1907-1990) - British Biochemist
Myrtle Bachelder (1908-1997) - American Chemist, Manhattan Project researcher
Dorothy Hodgkin (1910-1994) - British Biochemist
Anna J. Harrison (1912-1998) - American Organic chemist
Kamala Sohonie (1912-1998) - Indian Biochemist
Mildred Cohn (1913 - 2009) - American Biochemist
Asima Chatterjee (1917 - 2006) - Indian Organic Chemist
Gertrude B. Elion (1918 - 1999) - American Biochemist and pharmacologist
Patricia H. Clarke (1919-2010) - British Biochemist
Mildred Rebstock (1919-2011) - American Chemist
Rosalind Franklin (1920-1958) - British Biophysicist and X-ray Crystallographer
Stephanie Kwolek (1923-2014) - American Chemist and Inventor
Olga Kennard (1924-2023) - British Crystallographer
Winifred Watkins (1924-2003) - British Biochemist
Evangelina Villegas (1924 - 2017) - Mexican Biochemist
Margaret Oakley Dayhoff (1925-1983) - American Chemist and Bioinformatician
Darleane C. Hoffman (1926 -) - American Chemist
Joyce Jacobson Kaufman (1929-2016) - American Chemist
Patsy Sherman (1930-2008) - American Chemist
Tu Youyou (1930-) - Chinese Pharmaceutical Chemist
Fawzia Fahim (1931 -) - Egyptian Biochemist
Jan Anderson (1932-2015) - New Zealand Biochemist
Ruth Arnon (1933-) - Israeli Biochemist
Margarita Salas (1938-2019) - Spanish Biochemist
Barbara Askins (1939-) - American NASA Chemist
Ada E. Yonath (1939-) - Israeli Crystallographer
Louise Johnson (1940-2012) - British Biochemist
Darshan Ranganathan (1941-2001) - Indian Organic Chemist
Joan A. Steitz (1941-) - American Biochemist
Julia Higgins (1942-) - British Polymer scientist
Kathleen C. Taylor (1942-) - American Chemist
Jean Thomas (1942-) - Welsh Chemist
Judith Howard (1945-) - British Biochemist and crystallographer
Karen Wetterhahn (1948-1997) - American Chemist
Anne Dell (1950-) - Australian Biochemist
Lesley Jane Yellowlees (1953-) - British Chemist
Maria Abbracchio (1956-) - Italian Pharmacologist
Pamela J. Bjorkman (1956-) - American Chemist
Carol V. Robinson (1956 -) - British Chemist
Catherine Coleman (1960-) - American Chemist and astronaut
Lynn Gladden (1961-) - British Chemical engineer
Helen Sharman (1963-) - British Chemist
Carolyn R. Bertozzi (1966-) - American Chemist