Top 10 Best Chemistry Breakthroughs

Dmitri Mendeleev's 1869 arrangement of elements by atomic weight and properties predicted undiscovered elements with astonishing accuracy and remains the organizing framework of all chemistry.

Kary Mullis's 1983 invention of PCR allowed scientists to amplify tiny DNA samples billions of times, revolutionizing forensics, diagnostics, and molecular biology research.

Charles Goodyear's 1839 discovery that heating rubber with sulfur creates a durable, elastic material made possible everything from automobile tires to waterproof clothing.

Developed by John Goodenough, Stanley Whittingham, and Akira Yoshino from the 1970s through 1991, rechargeable lithium-ion cells power virtually every portable device and are driving the electric vehicle revolution.

Kroto, Curl, and Smalley's 1985 discovery of buckminsterfullerene (C60) opened the door to nanotechnology and inspired the later isolation of carbon nanotubes and graphene.

Felix Hoffmann's 1897 acetylation of salicylic acid at Bayer created the world's most widely used medication, which continues to find new therapeutic applications over 125 years later.

Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman's decades of work on modified nucleosides enabled the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, earning the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Joseph Priestley and Carl Wilhelm Scheele independently isolated oxygen in the 1770s, and Antoine Lavoisier's subsequent work on combustion overturned phlogiston theory and launched modern chemistry.

The development of chiral catalysts by Knowles, Noyori, and Sharpless enabled the selective production of single mirror-image molecules, transforming pharmaceutical manufacturing and earning the 2001 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Dmitri Mendeleev's 1869 arrangement of elements by atomic weight and properties predicted undiscovered elements with astonishing accuracy and remains the organizing framework of all chemistry.

Kary Mullis's 1983 invention of PCR allowed scientists to amplify tiny DNA samples billions of times, revolutionizing forensics, diagnostics, and molecular biology research.

Charles Goodyear's 1839 discovery that heating rubber with sulfur creates a durable, elastic material made possible everything from automobile tires to waterproof clothing.

Developed by John Goodenough, Stanley Whittingham, and Akira Yoshino from the 1970s through 1991, rechargeable lithium-ion cells power virtually every portable device and are driving the electric vehicle revolution.

Kroto, Curl, and Smalley's 1985 discovery of buckminsterfullerene (C60) opened the door to nanotechnology and inspired the later isolation of carbon nanotubes and graphene.

Felix Hoffmann's 1897 acetylation of salicylic acid at Bayer created the world's most widely used medication, which continues to find new therapeutic applications over 125 years later.

Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman's decades of work on modified nucleosides enabled the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna, earning the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.

Joseph Priestley and Carl Wilhelm Scheele independently isolated oxygen in the 1770s, and Antoine Lavoisier's subsequent work on combustion overturned phlogiston theory and launched modern chemistry.

The development of chiral catalysts by Knowles, Noyori, and Sharpless enabled the selective production of single mirror-image molecules, transforming pharmaceutical manufacturing and earning the 2001 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.