Born into an aristocratic British family, he turned his empathy and knowledge of the world’s largest land mammals to the cause of saving them from poachers.

He gave readers a comprehensive and lyrical account of the historic mission in 1969. His science coverage as a Pulitzer-winning journalist and an author took him around the world.

© The New York Times

A Nobel laureate, he identified an enzyme that cuts DNA, laying the groundwork for milestones in scientific research and medicine, like insulin.

© Marty Katz for The New York Times

Fleeing an abusive home life, she went on to win a national Space Invaders tournament, taught herself to program and left a trail of popular games in her wake.

Often called the world’s most famous face reader, he inspired the TV show ‘Lie to Me.’ But some questioned his assumption that human expressions were ‘pan-cultural.’

He and a partner founded Tekserve, a Manhattan emergency room for frozen hard drives, keyboards, screens and their confounded owners.

© Nancy Siesel/The New York Times

In “Doctor Dolittle’s Delusion,” he argued that language is a biological system unique to humans, despite the widespread belief that it extended to other animals.

An advocate for women’s reproductive health, she started one of the world’s smallest pharmaceutical companies to bring an emergency birth-control method to market.

© Marty Katz for The New York Times

A neuroscientist, he employed a battery of high-tech tools in devising a fast-acting therapy that targets the area of the brain where depression originates.

He developed extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, a treatment that can sustain patients whose hearts and lungs are failing — for days or weeks or longer.

His decoding of the blueprint for life with Francis H.C. Crick made him one of the most important scientists of the 20th century. He wrote a celebrated memoir and later ignited an uproar with racist views.