Fritz Haber was awarded with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1918 for the ammonia synthesis from its gaseous components. This work was fundamental to stop starvation around the world. On the opposite, his engagement to produce chemical weapons during the First World War is also an important fact in the life of this scientist. This polemic scientist visited Brazil in 1923, carrying out a project to extract gold from the sea. The present work tries to recover the historical fact behind the visit of this scientist to Brazil.

Walther Hermann Nernst is known to have established the basis for the third law of thermodynamics and also as one of the founders of the modern physical chemistry. For his work in chemical thermodynamics, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry, in 1920. An important fact about this scientist life, not always realized, was his stay in Brazil, in 1914, for a short period. He went to the city of São Paulo, where he gave a conference at the Faculdade São Bento. He talked about thermodynamics to a very selected audience. The work presented here explores this visit to Brazil, the importance the newspaper gave to this important visitor, and the community present at his lecture. His impression of Brazil was certainly positive, since one of his daughter immigrates to Brazil in 1939. It is hoped the material will add relevant information to the history of chemistry in Brazil.

In the year 2011 it is celebrated the Marie Sklodowska Curie Nobel Prize centenary and the International Year of Chemistry. However, it is not generally known that Marie Sklodowska Curie, one of the greatest scientists of all time, visited Belo Horizonte, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. She arrived by train at Belo Horizonte city on 16 August 1926, coming from Rio de Janeiro and accompanied by her daughter Irène Joliot-Curie. The scientists visited the Institute of Radium of Belo Horizonte. The approach in this work emphasizes the presence of Marie Sklodowska Curie in Belo Horizonte, exploring the admiration and respect that people had for her.