Chemists may specialize in any number of ubdisciplines of chemistry. Materials scientists and metallurgists share much of the same education and skills with chemists. The work of chemists is often related to the work of chemical engineers, who are primarily concerned with the proper design, construction and evaluation of the most cost-effective large-scale chemical plants and work closely with industrial chemists on the development of new processes and methods for the commercial-scale manufacture of chemicals and related products.Alchemists discovered many chemical processes that led to the development of modern chemistry. Chemistry as we know it today, was invented by Antoine Lavoisier with his law of conservation of mass in 1783. The discoveries of the chemical elements has a long history culminating in the creation of the periodic table by Dmitri Mendeleev. Antoine Lavoisier (1743 - 1794) is considered the "Father of Modern Chemistry".
About the Author: Sir William Augustus Tilden (August 15, 1842 - December 11, 1926) was a British chemist. He discovered that isoprene could be made from turpentine. He was unable to turn this discovery into a way to make commercially viable synthetic rubber. Educated at Bedford Modern School, Tilden obtained a B Sc in 1868 and a D Sc in 1871, both from the University of London. From 1872 to 1880 he was Senior Teacher of Science at Clifton College, Bristol. From 1880 to 1894 he was Professor of Chemistry at Mason College, (which later became the University of Birmingham). From 1894 to his death he was at the Royal College of Science, London, being Professor of Chemistry to 1909, Dean from 1905 to 1909, and then Emeritus Professor. He became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1880 and was Vice-President from 1904 to 1906. In 1908 he was awarded the Davy Medal of the Society. He was President of the Chemical Society from 1903 to 1905. The Tilden Prize was named in his memory by the Society in 1939 and has been awarded annually (now by the Royal Society of Chemistry) to three younger members since then. He held office in many other organisations, including the British Association for the Advancement of Science, the Institute of Chemistry (renamed Royal Institute of Chemistry in 1885) and the Society of Chemical Industry.