Posts from an inorganic chemistry enthusiast!
"all sciences and engineering were involved in the planning of the war, but chemistry played a central role; hardly any area of the war effort was able to do without the help of chemistry, for example in the synthesis of gasoline, new polymeric materials, or the availability of explosives.
A simplified summary is that the DChG was a society for (inter)national researchers in academia, whereas the VDCh represented predominantly the German industrial chemists. The leading scientific
journal of the DChG was the Berichteder deutschen Chemischen Gesellschaft, whereas the top-tier journal of the VDCh was Angewandte Chemie."
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[The] science research project of today is the temporary culmination of a very long, hard- fought struggle by a largely invisible community of our ancestors. Each of us may be standing on the shoulders of giants; more often we stand on the graves of our predecessors.
"In the words of the historian Fritz Stern, Haber' s Institute during the First World War became “ kind of forerunner of the Manhattan Project."
"Imagine a future in which human beings have become immune to all viruses, in which bacteria can custom-produce everyday items, like a drinking cup, or generate enough electricity to end oil dependency. Building a house would entail no more work than planting a seed in the ground. These scenarios may seem far-fetched, but pioneering geneticist George Church and science writer Ed Regis show that synthetic biology is bringing us ever closer to making such visions a reality. In Regenesis, Church and Regis explore the possibilities—and perils—of the emerging field of synthetic biology. Synthetic biology, in which living organisms are selectively altered by modifying substantial portions of their genomes, allows for the creation of entirely new species of organisms. Until now, nature has been the exclusive arbiter of life, death, and evolution; with synthetic biology, we now have the potential to write our own biological future. Indeed, as Church and Regis show, it even enables us to revisit crucial points in the evolution of life and, through synthetic biological techniques, choose different paths from those nature originally took. Such exploits will involve far more than just microbial tinkering. Full-blown genomic engineering will make possible incredible feats, from resurrecting woolly mammoths and other extinct organisms to creating mirror life forms with a molecular structure the opposite of our own. These technologies—far from the out-of-control nightmare depicted in science fiction—have the power to improve human and animal health, increase our intelligence, enhance our memory, and even extend our life span. A breathtaking look at the potential of this world-changing technology, Regenesis is nothing less than a guide to the future of life."
"the science of selectively altering the genes of organisms to make them do things that they wouldn;t do in their original, natural, untouched state."
"Creating a mirror world might give us a fresh lease on life, one free of disease and unwanted agricultural pest species.""...species that are lowest in diversity are most vulnerable to extinction.""Give me a selection, and I will change the world.""Multicellularity tends to come with a hard consequence-you give up your immortality.""...just as individuals respond differently to drugs and to pathogens, they also respond differently to information.""What should we do? Doing nothing, or doing what is traditional or natural, is not even close to a recipe for survival. If we choose tomorrow to behave in a way that our primitive ancestors did, nearly all of our 7 billion humans will die."
-an ideal working environment
-The choice of the right problem at the right time
-A unique way of approaching the problem-hard work and persistence to develop a method that works in the wake of many painful failures
-the right partner to attack the problem-stable research funding
"In our world so fond of denigration, of alleged honesty honed by political correctness, Haber is often remembered as a vain chauvinist."
"To understand Haber is to understand Germany and to some extent the opposite applies as well. They illuminate each other."
"He was a German patriot committed to an international enterprise, science."
"Haber flourished in Wilhemine Germany; the Kaiser set the tone and Haber played to the tune."
"The defense of scientific research as fundamental to national defense was an argument that Haber was to use throughout his career."
"I regret that we live in an age of denigration, and I want to mention an American instance of blemished greatness now being distorted in a faintly analogous process."
"Alchemists, no less than modern scientists, were keen to find sponsors."
"No scientist ever makes a fundamental discovery that owes absolutely nothing to his predecessors."
"Today one can no longer whisper the magic words "nitrogen fixation" to granting bodies and expect to be funded."
"...%40 of all people alive today are dependent upon Haber-Bosch nitrogen...."
"There is a need for people to be much more educated scientifically, so they can make their own informed judgements."
"scientists...like the alchemists, so many employed by modern equivalents of rich princes hoping to find the philosopher's stone."
"Fritz Haber is often this scapegoat...Most of us are also teachers. We have to do better than the usual, traditional technical presentation of the ammonia synthesis, invoking it as a fine illustration of Le Chatelier's Principle. We have to talk also about Haber, the historical figure and the person. His choices and agony are a part of us."
"researchers do not act independently but rather as communities of scholars who constantly check and approve one another's work."
"[Paul Samuelson] Knowledge advances, funeral by funeral."
"Science is about what is, not what ought to be."
"Before I was ten, I understood that in the United States foreigners are not foreign."
"Nationalism has little to contribute today except further suffering."
"Ignore teasing."
"...before the 1880s, science played almost no role in the advances of technology...Chemistry was the first science to undergo a merger with technology, and the first technology affected was dyemaking."
"He [Heisenberg] complained that physics had ceased to develop; there was hardly anything interesting left to do."
"Bohr:Where we find a paradox, we find something of real interest."
"Bohr said that to be properly understood, one should not lecture in his native tongue."
"The lesson is that the correct theory applied to the wrong data is better than no theory applied to correct measurements."
"[Bohr] Opennes is the basic condition necessary for science."
" Johnny [von Neumann] was the Euclid of quantum mechanics."
"The scientist is not responsible for the laws of nature. It is his job to find out how these laws operate...Hydrogen bombs will not produce themselves."
"Science historically had moved forward because of openness."
"I find the idea of civil disobedience in a democracy wrong."
"Fermi and I both lacked formal religious beliefs"
"I believe that if a mentally superhuman race ever develops, its members will resemble Johnny von Neumann."
"I had begun teaching Paul[his son] relativity theory when he was five or six...he understood the theory of relativity by the time he was twelve."
[about Plato's Republic]" I was shocked that a book advocating a centralized government administered from above, much on the lines of totalitarianism, was so highly recommended to young people."
