Nobel Laureate at Chemistry Department

The Department of Chemistry hosted a lecture last week entitled 'Chemistry's Essential Tension: The Same And Not The Same' delivered by Professor Roald Hoffmann, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry.

Chemistry, poised between the physical and biological universes, does not deal with the infinitely small or large. It is very much on the human scale, and from that derives its great interest and problems.

In his generously illustrated lecture, Professor Hoffman presented several views of chemistry. Firstly, chemistry is, as it has always been, the art, craft and business of substances and their transformations.

It is now also the science of molecules, both simple and complex - chemists always think simultaneously of macroscopic substances and microscopic molecules changing. There is also people's perception of chemistry, in terms of its benefits, but also its risks.

Indeed, there is no way that a human activity so closely tied to change can be viewed without passion by people. This deeply democratising science is full of tensions, which was explored in this lecture.

Professor Hoffman concluded with a reflection on the strong element of creation or synthesis in chemistry, which brings chemistry close to the arts.