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National Historic Chemical Landmarks

Chemistry came of age as a science in the late 1700s-the same time America came of age as a nation. Over the next two centuries, chemists played key roles in expanding the frontiers of knowledge, advancing medicine and industry, and creating products from aspirin to zippers. This site tells their stories.


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The American Chemical Society asks local section and division members to identify chemical milestones — whether sites, artifacts or collections — in their cities or regions, to document their importance to the history of chemical achievement.

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Landmark Designations

On Nov. 12, 2009, at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, the ACS will designate the deciphering the genetic code as the next National Historic Chemical Landmark. This work, led by Marshall Nirenberg, mapped the process by which DNA is translated into proteins. Nirenberg’s research solved that puzzle, effectively breaking “the code of life.” Landmark Agenda

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