ACS Honors African Americans in the Chemical Sciences

George Washington Carver

Scientist, botanist, educator, and inventor, who developed hundreds of new uses for agricultural crops.

Charles Richard Drew

Renowned surgeon and educator, Drew pioneered the American blood banking system.

Percy Lavon Julian

A pioneer in the chemical synthesis of medicinal drugs whose research laid the foundation for human hormone production.

Norbert Rillieux

Rillieux’s multiple-effect evaporator invention revolutionized sugar processing, an early feat in chemical engineering.

Marie Maynard Daly

First African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in chemistry, Daly worked to increase minorities in medical schools.

St. Elmo Brady

First African American to receive a Ph.D. in chemistry who left an impressive teaching legacy at black colleges.

Lloyd Augustus Hall

Gifted chemist who invented a number of ways to preserve food and amassed numerous patents used today.

Henry Aaron Hill

The first African American president of the American Chemical Society, he founded Riverside Research Laboratories.

James Andrew Harris

The first African American to participate in a major new-element program, Harris co-discovered elements 104 and 105.

John R. Cooper

Dr. Cooper has several patents in development of heat-resistant fluorine rubber compounds used to seal jet engines.

Joseph S. Francisco

This distinguished educator became the second African American elected president of ACS.

Angie Turner King

American chemist, mathematician, and educator was one of the first African American women to gain degrees in chemistry and math.

Alma Levant Hayden

Led a team that exposed the common substance in Krebiozen, a controversial alternative drug promoted as anti-cancer.

Patricia E. Bath

Founder of the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness. Invented Cataract Laser Probe.