chemistry: Quick Facts

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Last updated

Nov. 8, 2026

News •

Scientists accidentally solve a chemistry mystery that lasted 60 years • Nov. 6, 2026, 4:30 PM ET (Science Daily)

Machine learning simulations reveal how plastic transforms into hard carbon • Oct. 28, 2026, 7:00 AM ET (Phys.org)

New 'hunter-killer' chemistry captures and destroys forever chemicals • Oct. 19, 2026, 3:00 PM ET (Phys.org)

Electron density check offers better starting point for chemistry's most difficult metal molecules • Oct. 15, 2026, 6:00 PM ET (Phys.org)

Photos and Videos

molecular structure

Etching by Jacob de Gheyn III showing Thales of Miletus seated with a long beard, draped in robes, holding a compass over an open book with geometric diagrams.

Dmitri Mendeleev

Mendeleev's periodic table

A color-coded periodic table of the elements displays each element's symbol and atomic number, with categories such as alkali metals, noble gases, halogens, transition metals, and actinoid elements distinguished by different background colors.

Diagram of the Bohr atomic model showing an electron moving in circular orbits with quantized energy levels around a central nucleus, alongside an energy level diagram illustrating electron transitions.

Diagram of the Rutherford atomic model for a neon atom, showing electrons orbiting a central nucleus. An inset magnifies the nucleus, depicting clustered protons and neutrons.

Diagram showing the formation of a polar covalent bond in a water molecule, with two hydrogen atoms bonding to one oxygen atom to form H2O, illustrating shared electrons and chemical reaction.

Nobel Prize: chemical elements discovered by winners

Learn how the invention of dynamite led, in part, to the global recognition of Martin Luther King, Jr., as a civil rights leader

Uncover the potential of technology in the field of microbiological research

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Topics

chemical bonding chemical element histochemistry pneumatic chemistry theoretical chemistry mixture chemical compound Biochemistry chemical reaction phase Astronomy Earth sciences physics metrology mathematics principles of physical science Star subatomic particle time light

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Key People

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Henry Enfield Roscoe

English chemist

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Stanley Miller

American biochemist

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Charles François de Cisternay Du Fay

French chemist

Michael Faraday

Michael Faraday

British physicist and chemist

Painting by Albert Edelfelt showing Louis Pasteur in his laboratory, holding a glass flask and examining it intently, surrounded by scientific equipment on a workbench.

Louis Pasteur

French chemist and microbiologist

Portrait of French chemist Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, shown in formal 18th-century attire with a white wig and ruffled cravat, looking slightly to his left.

Antoine Lavoisier

French chemist

Jöns Jacob Berzelius

Jöns Jacob Berzelius

Swedish chemist

Justus von Liebig

Justus, baron von Liebig

German chemist

Joseph Black, detail of an engraving by J. Rogers after a portrait by Sir Henry Raeburn

Joseph Black

British scientist

Marie Curie

Marie Curie

Polish-born French physicist

Joseph Priestley

Joseph Priestley

English clergyman and scientist

Dmitri Mendeleev

Dmitri Mendeleev

Russian scientist

George Washington Carver

George Washington Carver

American agricultural chemist

Claude-Louis Berthollet.

Claude-Louis Berthollet

French chemist

Henry Cavendish

Henry Cavendish

British physicist

Linus Pauling

Linus Pauling

American scientist

Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac, engraving by Ambroise Tardieu.

Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac

French scientist

Sir Humphry Davy

Sir Humphry Davy

English chemist

Alfred Nobel

Alfred Nobel

Swedish chemist, engineer, and industrialist

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Gilbert N. Lewis

American chemist

Illustration of molecules. (molecular, chemistry, science)

So Much Chemistry, So Little Time Quiz

A person's hand pouring blue fluid from a flask into a beaker. Chemistry, scientific experiments, science experiments, science demonstrations, scientific demonstrations.

Ins and Outs of Chemistry

Double exposure of science laboratory test tubes with bokeh and chemical reaction

Types of Chemical Reactions

Periodic Table of the elements concept image (chemistry)

Facts You Should Know: The Periodic Table Quiz

Model of a molecule. Atom, Biology, Molecular Structure, Science, Science and Technology. Homepage 2010 arts and entertainment, history and society

Science Quiz

Michael Faraday (L) English physicist and chemist (electromagnetism) and John Frederic Daniell (R) British chemist and meteorologist who invented the Daniell cell.

Faces of Science