20th-century Chemist Quotes

To those of us who spend our lives working on scientific problems, science is a great intellectual adventure of such interest that nothing else we ever do can compare with it. We are attempting to understand the order of a physical universe, vast in extent in space and time, and most complicated and beautiful in its details.

Our life would be what we made of it—nothing more, nothing less.

To feed applied science by starving basic science is like economising on the foundations of a building so that it may be built higher. It is only a matter of time before the whole edifice crumbles.

Surprisingly, history is much more difficult than chemistry.

Frank Westheimer

I do not believe that the present flowering of science is due in the least to a real appreciation of the beauty and intellectual discipline of the subject. It is due simply to the fact that power, wealth and prestige can only be obtained by the correct application of science.

The frontier orbital approach was further developed in various directions by my own group and many other scientists, both theoretical and experimental.

Scientists need to exchange ideas in an informal place.

Anyone who wishes to grow over their lifetime needs criticism.

An aromatic compound may be defined as a cyclic compound with a large resonance energy where all the annular atoms take part in a single conjugated system.

Michael J. S. Dewar

In science, conjecture drives both experiment and theory for it is only by forming conjectures (hypotheses) that we can make the direction of our experiments and theories informed. If such and such is true, then I should be able to do this experiment and look for this particular result or I should be able to find this theoretical formulation. Conversely, experiment and theory drive conjecture. One makes a startling observation or has a sudden insight and begins to speculate on its significance and implications and to draw possible conclusions (conjecture).

... when I started doing chemistry, I did it the way I fished – for the excitement, the discovery, the adventure, for going after the most elusive catch imaginable in uncharted seas.

K. Barry Sharpless