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Eleven chemists are named in Chemistry World’s 20 March 2025 account of London blue plaques: John Desmond Bernal, Henry Cavendish, Ernst Chain, William Crookes, Michael Faraday, Edward Frankland, Rosalind Franklin, August Wilhelm von Hofmann, Kathleen Lonsdale, Joseph Priestley and William Ramsay. Their plaque-linked buildings range from an apprentice’s address to family homes, a childhood house and a ministerial residence. Together, the list connects London streets with advances in crystallography, gases, antibiotics, electrochemistry, organic chemistry, atomic science and more.
What London’s blue-plaque list represents
The list comes from Julia Robinson’s Chemistry World article published on 20 March 2025. Its figure of eleven is the number of chemists that article identifies; it is not established here as an official, current total for every chemistry-related plaque in London.
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London’s blue-plaque scheme was founded in 1866 and is now run by English Heritage, according to the article’s description of the official scheme. The reported process allows members of the public to nominate a person. For an English Heritage plaque, the proposed recipient must have died at least 20 years earlier, and a surviving building closely associated with that person must still exist.
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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →“Blue plaque” is not a guarantee that English Heritage administers a particular sign. Outside London, comparable schemes may be run by local councils, civic societies or other organisations. The addresses below are therefore best read as the London locations identified by the 2025 article, not as a complete register of all science plaques or all plaques bearing the same colour.
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The table is a quick reference. The sections that follow explain the scientific or public contribution associated with each person.
| Chemist | Life dates | London plaque-linked building | Role or field highlighted |
|---|---|---|---|
| John Desmond Bernal | 1901–1971 | 44 Albert Street, Camden | Crystallographer |
| Henry Cavendish | 1731–1810 | 11 Bedford Square, Bloomsbury | Natural philosopher |
| Ernst Chain | 1906–1979 | 9 North View, Wimbledon | Biochemist |
| William Crookes | 1832–1919 | 7 Kensington Park Gardens, Notting Hill | Scientist, chemist and physicist |
| Michael Faraday | 1791–1867 | 48 Blandford Street, Marylebone | Natural philosopher, chemist and physicist |
| Edward Frankland | 1825–1899 | 14 Lancaster Gate, Bayswater | Chemical scientist |
| Rosalind Franklin | 1920–1958 | Donovan Court, 107 Drayton Gardens, Chelsea | Crystallographer |
| August Wilhelm von Hofmann | 1818–1892 | 9 Fitzroy Square, Fitzrovia | Chemist |
| Kathleen Lonsdale | 1903–1971 | 19 Colenso Road, Seven Kings | Crystallographer and peace campaigner |
| Joseph Priestley | 1733–1804 | 7–8 Ram Place, Hackney | Scientist, philosopher and theologian |
| William Ramsay | 1852–1916 | 12 Arundel Gardens, Notting Hill | Chemist |
The 11 chemists and why they are remembered
John Desmond Bernal (1901–1971)
Bernal was a crystallographer whose work used X-ray methods to investigate the structures of matter. The article links him particularly with X-ray crystallography and molecular biology, including research on tobacco mosaic virus and a broader programme applying X-ray analysis to complex biological molecules. Those efforts helped make crystallographic techniques central to questions in biology as well as chemistry.
His scientific career was accompanied by pronounced social and political engagement. He argued for public and governmental support for basic research, treating fundamental science as a public good rather than work that needed an immediate commercial application. The plaque-linked building is the Camden address at which he lived and died.
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Cavendish is identified as a natural philosopher whose experiments on gases helped clarify the composition of matter. He studied hydrogen, which he called “inflammable air”, and carbon dioxide, which he called “fixed air”. His work demonstrated that water is a compound rather than an element, a conclusion that changed how chemists interpreted one of the substances most familiar in daily life.
He also carried out measurements connected with Earth’s density. The plaque is associated with 11 Bedford Square in Bloomsbury, the building where Cavendish was born, lived and died. The combination of gas experiments and quantitative work shows why his legacy sits at the boundary of early chemistry, physics and natural philosophy.
Rank #2
Ernst Chain (1906–1979)
Chain was a biochemist central to the transformation of penicillin from an observed antibacterial effect into a systematically studied medicine. Working with Howard Florey, he helped reinvestigate penicillin, establish its chemotherapeutic action and develop methods for isolating it and elucidating its structure. He later worked on penicillin and other naturally occurring antibiotics.
Chain shared the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Alexander Fleming and Florey. The London plaque identified by Chemistry World is at his Wimbledon residence. Its inclusion reflects the chemical and biochemical work required to turn an unstable natural product into a treatment that could be studied and used.
William Crookes (1832–1919)
Crookes worked across chemistry and physics. The article highlights his discovery of thallium, a chemical element, together with investigations of cathode rays. His experimental interests also produced the Crookes radiometer, an instrument whose vanes respond to radiation and which became a familiar demonstration device.
He is listed as a scientist, chemist and physicist rather than being confined to one discipline. The plaque-linked home in Notting Hill is the building where he lived and died. His entry illustrates how nineteenth-century scientific careers often moved freely between laboratory chemistry, instruments and questions about radiation and electricity.
Michael Faraday (1791–1867)
Faraday’s plaque is connected with an address in Marylebone where he was an apprentice, an early stage in the career of a natural philosopher who became one of the most influential experimental scientists of the nineteenth century. His work included electrochemistry and electromagnetism.
Rank #3
The article names electromagnetic rotation and electromagnetic induction, phenomena that established key relationships between electricity and motion. It also points to his work on benzene, electrolysis and the Faraday effect. These achievements span chemical substances, the laws governing electrical decomposition and the interaction of light and magnetism, explaining why Faraday is remembered in chemistry as well as physics.
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Frankland helped establish organometallic chemistry and developed the concept of valency. In describing how atoms connect, he used the language of “bonds”, a vocabulary that became fundamental to the way chemical structures are represented and taught.
His interests were not limited to theoretical structure. The article also highlights his work on water quality. Frankland lived at the Bayswater plaque address from 1870 to 1880 while he was a professor at the Royal College of Chemistry. That period links the commemorated residence with both his academic position and his research into the composition and safety of water.
Rosalind Franklin (1920–1958)
Franklin was a crystallographer whose X-ray diffraction research on DNA supplied crucial structural evidence. She distinguished between DNA’s A and B forms and inferred that the B form was likely helical. Images of the B form were later passed to James Watson and Francis Crick and were instrumental in their work on DNA’s structure, as the article explains.
The Chelsea plaque is associated with the home where Franklin lived from 1951 to 1958. Her entry is significant not only for the importance of the images but also for the precision of the underlying diffraction work: separating DNA forms and interpreting their patterns were essential steps before a molecular model could be proposed.
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August Wilhelm von Hofmann (1818–1892)
Von Hofmann made contributions to organic chemistry and to the teaching of chemistry. His research on coal-tar products and related compounds laid foundations for the aniline-dye industry, an area in which laboratory investigation and industrial production became closely connected.
The article also notes his role in founding the German Chemical Society in 1867. The London plaque is at his Fitzrovia residence. His inclusion broadens the list beyond individual discoveries: it recognises research, chemistry education and institution-building as forces that shaped the discipline and its industrial applications.
Kathleen Lonsdale (1903–1971)
Lonsdale was a crystallographer whose X-ray diffraction studies included hexamethylbenzene and hexachlorobenzene. Her work contributed to the structural understanding of these compounds, and she was later elected to the Royal Society.
Her public record extended beyond the laboratory. She supported women’s scientific careers and campaigned for international peace. The listed London location is her childhood home in Seven Kings, so the plaque marks an early family address rather than a laboratory or university post. It therefore connects scientific achievement with the personal and civic dimensions of her life.
Joseph Priestley (1733–1804)
Priestley is described as a scientist, philosopher and theologian. His experiments with gases included oxygen, which he called “dephlogisticated air”, and he also investigated electricity. These studies were conducted alongside religious and political advocacy, making his career an unusually broad example of Enlightenment-era inquiry.
The Hackney plaque is linked to 7–8 Ram Place, where he served as minister to the Gravel Pit meeting in 1793–1794. The location thus records a ministerial appointment as well as the period in which his scientific and public interests continued to overlap.
William Ramsay (1852–1916)
Ramsay’s major chemical achievement was the discovery of several noble gases: helium, neon, argon, krypton and xenon. He later worked on radon. Identifying these gases expanded the known chemical elements and helped establish the group of elements that are notably unreactive under ordinary conditions.
He received the 1904 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The plaque is at 12 Arundel Gardens in Notting Hill, described as his family home for 15 years. Chemistry World’s article uses the phrase “the greatest chemical discoverer of his time” in discussing Ramsay but does not identify a speaker for that wording, so it should not be treated as an attributed quotation.
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The addresses provide a starting point for a self-guided history walk, but a plaque list is not the same thing as a current access guide. Before travelling, check that the plaque remains in place, confirm the current scheme administrator and look up whether the building or its surrounding area can be viewed from the public realm. The article’s information is dated March 2025, and plaque presence, access arrangements and administration can change.
- Choose a scientific theme. You might focus on crystallography with Bernal, Franklin and Lonsdale; gases with Cavendish, Priestley and Ramsay; or chemical structure and synthesis with Frankland, von Hofmann and Chain.
- Record the exact address. Preserve the building number and district shown in the table, since several names are associated with the same broad part of London but different streets.
- Verify the plaque before setting out. Use the current information supplied by the relevant heritage organisation or local authority rather than assuming every blue plaque is an English Heritage sign.
- Read the biography at the site. The scientific contribution is often easier to understand when you know whether the building was a home, workplace, childhood residence, apprenticeship address or ministerial base.
For a physical guidebook, useful selection criteria are coverage of these locations, historical accuracy, practical route information, accessibility detail and the date of the latest update. The source for this list does not establish the availability or quality of any particular guidebook.
Source and scope
This article follows Chemistry World’s “Eleven chemists who have been honoured with a blue plaque” by Julia Robinson, published 20 March 2025. The names, addresses, life dates and scientific descriptions above are limited to what that article reports. The 1866 founding date, the public-nomination route and the 20-year posthumous criterion are likewise presented as the article’s account of the English Heritage scheme, not as a claim that every blue-plaque organisation uses identical rules.
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