Disciplines
Chemistry
Also Known As Chem
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Chemistry is the branch of science that studies the composition, properties, and transformations of matter, and the energy changes that accompany those transformations.
Facts
Founded YearAntoine Lavoisier's Traite elementaire de chimie (1789) and the chemical revolution he led are commonly cited as founding modern chemistry; Britannica dates the shift more broadly to the late 18th century acceptance of the law of conservation of mass. Central QuestionA physical science within the natural sciences that studies matter: its composition, structure, properties, behavior, and the changes it undergoes during reactions with other substances. 2 ScopeChemistry studies the composition, structure, properties and behavior of matter, and the changes it undergoes during reactions with other substances, occupying an intermediate position between physics and biology as what is often called the central science. 2 SignificanceAntoine Lavoisier's law of conservation of mass, which demanded careful quantitative measurement of chemical change, transformed chemistry from a craft descended from alchemy into a rigorous experimental science. Its six recognized branches, inorganic, organic, physical, analytical, biochemistry and applied chemistry, now underpin fields from medicine to materials engineering. 2 Cross-Tradition Connections
Encompasses
Founded By
Has Scientist
Has Theory
Studies
Uses
Used in surface chemistry and catalysis research to image adsorbed molecules and reaction sites atom by atom.
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Technology and Engineering Atlas: Smelting, discusses this subject there.
Sources
1. Antoine Lavoisier (Britannica)
2. Chemistry (Wikipedia)
WikipediaIntroductionQuote, Introduction
It is a physical science within the natural sciences that studies matter: composition, structure, properties, behavior and the changes they undergo during reactions with other substances.
View the Source 2. Chemistry (Wikipedia)
Louis Pasteur: Spontaneous Generation (Britannica)
Marie Curie, Biographical (Nobel Prize)
The Nobel Prize (Nobel Foundation)Has Scientist: Marie CurieView the Source Centrifuge (Britannica)
Thermometer (Britannica)
Gas Chromatography (Britannica)
Spectrophotometer (Britannica)
X-ray Diffraction Spectrometer (Britannica)
pH Meter (Britannica)
Michelson-Morley Experiment (Britannica)
Arnold Beckman (Wikipedia)
Kirchhoff and Bunsen on Spectroscopy (ChemTeam)
Gustav Kirchhoff and Robert Bunsen, Annalen der Physik und der Chemie, 1860Has Scientist: Robert BunsenView the Source Mass Spectrometry (Wikipedia)
Spectroscope (Wikipedia)
Francis Aston (Wikipedia)
Anthony T. James (Wikipedia)
Archer Martin (Wikipedia)
Theodor Svedberg (Wikipedia)
Edwin McMillan (Wikipedia)
Emil Fischer (Britannica)
Oswald Schmiedeberg (Britannica)
Materials Science (Wikipedia)
China's First Science Nobel Prize Exposes Anxiety on Research (Chemistry World)
Chemistry WorldHas Scientist: Tu Youyou
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (Wikipedia)
Scanning Tunneling Microscope (Wikipedia)
Copper (Wikipedia)
Calorimeter (Wikipedia)
Polarimeter (Wikipedia)
Emmanuelle Charpentier (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: Emmanuelle Charpentier, Lead section, 2020 Nobel Prize in ChemistryQuote, Has Scientist: Emmanuelle Charpentier, Lead section, 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
In 2020, Charpentier and American biochemist Jennifer Doudna of the University of California, Berkeley, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for the development of a method for genome editing" (through CRISPR).
View the Source Jennifer Doudna (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: Jennifer Doudna, Lead section, 2020 Nobel Prize in ChemistryQuote, Has Scientist: Jennifer Doudna, Lead section, 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
She received the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, with Emmanuelle Charpentier, "for the development of a method for genome editing."
View the Source John B. Goodenough (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: John B. Goodenough, Lead section, 2019 Nobel Prize in ChemistryQuote, Has Scientist: John B. Goodenough, Lead section, 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
In 2019, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry alongside M. Stanley Whittingham and Akira Yoshino
View the Source M. Stanley Whittingham (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: M. Stanley Whittingham, Lead section, 2019 Nobel Prize in ChemistryQuote, Has Scientist: M. Stanley Whittingham, Lead section, 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2019 alongside Akira Yoshino and John B. Goodenough.
View the Source Akira Yoshino (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: Akira Yoshino, Lead section, 2019 Nobel Prize in ChemistryQuote, Has Scientist: Akira Yoshino, Lead section, 2019 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Yoshino was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2019 alongside M. Stanley Whittingham and John B. Goodenough.
View the Source Frances Arnold (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: Frances Arnold, Lead section, 2018 Nobel Prize in ChemistryQuote, Has Scientist: Frances Arnold, Lead section, 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
In 2018, she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for pioneering the use of directed evolution to engineer enzymes.
View the Source George P. Smith (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: George P. Smith, Lead section, 2018 Nobel Prize in ChemistryQuote, Has Scientist: George P. Smith, Lead section, 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
He was awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for this work, sharing his prize with Greg Winter and Frances Arnold.
View the Source Gregory Winter (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: Gregory Winter, Lead section, 2018 Nobel Prize in ChemistryQuote, Has Scientist: Gregory Winter, Lead section, 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
For these developments Winter was awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with George Smith and Frances Arnold.
View the Source Jacques Dubochet (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: Jacques Dubochet, Lead section, 2017 Nobel Prize in ChemistryQuote, Has Scientist: Jacques Dubochet, Lead section, 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
In 2017, he received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry together with Joachim Frank and Richard Henderson "for developing cryo-electron microscopy for the high-resolution structure determination of biomolecules in solution".
View the Source Joachim Frank (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: Joachim Frank, Lead section, 2017 Nobel Prize in ChemistryQuote, Has Scientist: Joachim Frank, Lead section, 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
He is regarded as the founder of single-particle cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), for which he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2017 with Jacques Dubochet and Richard Henderson.
View the Source Richard Henderson (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: Richard Henderson, Lead section, 2017 Nobel Prize in ChemistryQuote, Has Scientist: Richard Henderson, Lead section, 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Henderson shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2017 with Jacques Dubochet and Joachim Frank.
View the Source Jean-Pierre Sauvage (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Lead section, 2016 Nobel Prize in ChemistryQuote, Has Scientist: Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Lead section, 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
He shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry together with Ben Feringa and Jean-Pierre Sauvage in 2016 for the design and synthesis of molecular machines.
View the Source J. Fraser Stoddart (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: J. Fraser Stoddart, Lead section, 2016 Nobel Prize in ChemistryQuote, Has Scientist: J. Fraser Stoddart, Lead section, 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
He has specialized in supramolecular chemistry for which he has been awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with Sir J. Fraser Stoddart and Bernard L. Feringa.
View the Source Bernard L. Feringa (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: Bernard L. Feringa, Lead section, 2016 Nobel Prize in ChemistryQuote, Has Scientist: Bernard L. Feringa, Lead section, 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Feringa's research on molecular machines was awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry alongside Sir J. Fraser Stoddart and Jean-Pierre Sauvage.
View the Source Tomas Lindahl (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: Tomas Lindahl, Lead section, 2015 Nobel Prize in ChemistryQuote, Has Scientist: Tomas Lindahl, Lead section, 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
In 2015, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry jointly with American chemist Paul L. Modrich and Turkish chemist Aziz Sancar for mechanistic studies of DNA repair.
View the Source Paul Modrich (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: Paul Modrich, Lead section, 2015 Nobel Prize in ChemistryQuote, Has Scientist: Paul Modrich, Lead section, 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Modrich received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2015, jointly with Aziz Sancar and Tomas Lindahl.
View the Source Aziz Sancar (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: Aziz Sancar, Lead section, 2015 Nobel Prize in ChemistryQuote, Has Scientist: Aziz Sancar, Lead section, 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
In 2015, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with Tomas Lindahl and Paul L. Modrich for their mechanistic studies of DNA repair.
View the Source Eric Betzig (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: Eric Betzig, Lead section, 2014 Nobel Prize in ChemistryQuote, Has Scientist: Eric Betzig, Lead section, 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
He was awarded the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy" along with Stefan Hell and fellow Cornell alumnus William E. Moerner.
View the Source Stefan Hell (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: Stefan Hell, Lead section, 2014 Nobel Prize in ChemistryQuote, Has Scientist: Stefan Hell, Lead section, 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
He received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2014 "for the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy", together with Eric Betzig and William Moerner.
View the Source William E. Moerner (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: William E. Moerner, Lead section, 2014 Nobel Prize in ChemistryQuote, Has Scientist: William E. Moerner, Lead section, 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
In 2014, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
View the Source David Baker (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: David Baker, Lead section, 2024 Nobel Prize in ChemistryQuote, Has Scientist: David Baker, Lead section, 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
He was awarded the shared 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on computational protein design.
View the Source Demis Hassabis (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: Demis Hassabis, Lead section, 2024 Nobel Prize in ChemistryQuote, Has Scientist: Demis Hassabis, Lead section, 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
In 2024, Hassabis and John M. Jumper were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their AI research contributions to protein structure prediction.
View the Source John M. Jumper (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: John M. Jumper, Lead section, 2024 Nobel Prize in ChemistryQuote, Has Scientist: John M. Jumper, Lead section, 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Jumper, Demis Hassabis and David Baker were awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for protein structure prediction.
View the Source Moungi Bawendi (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: Moungi Bawendi, Lead section, 2023 Nobel Prize in ChemistryQuote, Has Scientist: Moungi Bawendi, Lead section, 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
In 2023, Bawendi was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry jointly with Louis E. Brus and Alexey Ekimov "for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots".
View the Source Louis Brus (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: Louis Brus, Lead section, 2023 Nobel Prize in ChemistryQuote, Has Scientist: Louis Brus, Lead section, 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
In 2023, Brus was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry jointly with Ekimov and Moungi Bawendi "for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots".
View the Source Alexey Ekimov (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: Alexey Ekimov, Lead section, 2023 Nobel Prize in ChemistryQuote, Has Scientist: Alexey Ekimov, Lead section, 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Ekimov, Brus and Moungi Bawendi were the recipients of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots".
View the Source Carolyn Bertozzi (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: Carolyn Bertozzi, Lead section, 2022 Nobel Prize in ChemistryQuote, Has Scientist: Carolyn Bertozzi, Lead section, 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Bertozzi was awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, jointly with Morten P. Meldal and Karl Barry Sharpless, "for the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry".
View the Source Morten Meldal (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: Morten Meldal, Lead section, 2022 Nobel Prize in ChemistryQuote, Has Scientist: Morten Meldal, Lead section, 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Meldal was awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, jointly with Carolyn R. Bertozzi and Karl Barry Sharpless, "for the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry".
View the Source K. Barry Sharpless (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: K. Barry Sharpless, Lead section, 2022 Nobel Prize in ChemistryQuote, Has Scientist: K. Barry Sharpless, Lead section, 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
Sharpless was awarded half of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his work on chirally catalysed oxidation reactions", and one third of the 2022 prize, jointly with Carolyn R. Bertozzi and Morten P. Meldal, "for the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry".
View the Source Benjamin List (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: Benjamin List, Lead section, 2021 Nobel Prize in ChemistryQuote, Has Scientist: Benjamin List, Lead section, 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
He shared the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with David MacMillan "for the development of asymmetric organocatalysis".
View the Source David MacMillan (Wikipedia)
WikipediaHas Scientist: David MacMillan, Lead section, 2021 Nobel Prize in ChemistryQuote, Has Scientist: David MacMillan, Lead section, 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
He shared the 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Benjamin List "for the development of asymmetric organocatalysis".
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