CHEMISTS from Mexico

Top 3

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Mexican Chemists of all time. This list of famous Mexican Chemists is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Mario J. Molina (1943 - 2020)

With an HPI of 61.04, Mario J. Molina is the most famous Mexican Chemist.  His biography has been translated into 65 different languages on wikipedia.

Mario José Molina-Pasquel Henríquez (19 March 1943 – 7 October 2020) was a Mexican physical chemist. He played a pivotal role in the discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole, and was a co-recipient of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his role in discovering the threat to the Earth's ozone layer from chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) gases. He was the first Mexican-born scientist to receive a Nobel Prize in Chemistry and the third Mexican-born person to receive a Nobel prize. In his career, Molina held research and teaching positions at University of California, Irvine, California Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of California, San Diego, and the Center for Atmospheric Sciences at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Molina was also Director of the Mario Molina Center for Energy and Environment in Mexico City. Molina was a climate policy advisor to the President of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto.

2. Luis E. Miramontes (1925 - 2004)

With an HPI of 48.84, Luis E. Miramontes is the 2nd most famous Mexican Chemist.  His biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Luis Ernesto Miramontes Cárdenas (March 16, 1925 – September 13, 2004) was a Mexican chemist known as co-inventor and the first to synthesize an oral contraceptive, progestin norethisterone.

3. Henry Eyring (1901 - 1981)

With an HPI of 44.74, Henry Eyring is the 3rd most famous Mexican Chemist.  His biography has been translated into 21 different languages.

Henry Eyring (February 20, 1901 – December 26, 1981) was a Mexico-born United States theoretical chemist whose primary contribution was in the study of chemical reaction rates and intermediates. Eyring developed the Absolute Rate Theory or Transition state theory of chemical reactions, connecting the fields of chemistry and physics through atomic theory, quantum theory, and statistical mechanics.