Letters from Chemistry World readers – Page 12

  • Opinion

    Letters: October 2006

    2006-09-21T11:47:00Z

    From Ron Denney It was a great pleasure to read the article on Research Triangle Park (RTP) in North Carolina, US (Chemistry World, September 2006, p62). I was fortunate enough to see the Research Triangle in its early days when it was struggling for success. At the time ...

  • Opinion

    Your views: October 2006

    2006-09-21T11:47:00Z

    Physics has the origins of the universe; biology has the origins of life. But what are the 'big' scientific challenges for chemistry?

  • Opinion

    Letters: September 2006

    2006-08-30T10:33:00Z

    From Basil Walby As a statistician, former editor of The Analyst, and now a grumpy old man, I was disappointed to see that RSC Publishing is promoting spurious precision in its advertisement in Chemistry World (July 2006, p47). Impact factors are notoriously variable, making the quotation to ...

  • Opinion

    Your views: September 2006

    2006-08-25T14:11:00Z

    Is insistence on the use of Iupac nomenclature diluting the rich traditional language of chemistry?

  • Opinion

    Letters: August 2006

    2006-07-27T13:05:00Z

    From Norman Nicolson The excellent article on serendipity missed one important event (Chemistry World, June 2006, p32). A chemist working for ICI wondered what used could be made of the blue sludge that had to be cleaned out of the bottom of the phthalimide reactor. This was made of ...

  • Opinion

    Your views: August 2006

    2006-07-27T13:05:00Z

    Which chemistry book would you take to your desert island?

  • Opinion

    Letters: July 2006

    2006-06-26T10:39:00Z

    From Colin Britton I was most interested in the editorial (Chemistry World, June 2006, p2), ’covering the usual sort of stuff’, and recognising that the topics listed, including air quality, synthetic dyes tomatoes, etc, are just some of the things that chemists get up to. I would like to ...

  • Opinion

    Your views: July 2006

    2006-06-26T10:39:00Z

    What, if anything, do chemistry and the arts have in common?

  • Opinion

    Letters: June 2006

    2006-05-26T12:54:00Z

    From Sir Harry Kroto Fundamental advances in the chemical sciences are today more vital than in any other area for survival of the human race and the sustainability of our modern way of life. The chemical sciences underpin, in the most fundamental ways, the cutting edge areas of ...

  • Opinion

    Your views: June 2006

    2006-05-26T12:54:00Z

    There is no role for bench chemists: technology will replace them. Discuss.

  • Opinion

    Letters: May 2006

    2006-04-26T11:50:00Z

    From Michael Archer In response to points raised in the news item entitled Australian chemistry department under threat (Chemistry World online, 23 March 2006; p10), I strenuously deny that any ’budget bungle’ has occurred, as the academic staff union emotively and incorrectly claims. Rather, the restructuring of the school ...

  • Opinion

    Letters: April 2006

    2006-03-24T14:54:00Z

    From Brian Whitefield I sympathise with Ronald Dell over his problem with the names of pharmaceuticals (Chemistry World, March 2006, p32). Some 50 years ago, when National Service temporarily converted me from organic chemist to nurse, the nature of preparations could be easily determined from their Latinate names or, in ...

  • Opinion

    Your views: April 2006

    2006-03-24T14:54:00Z

    Can patents have a negative effect on chemical research?

  • Opinion

    Letters: March 2006

    2006-03-03T15:39:00Z

    From Lee Higham It was interesting to read the article on the changing face of university chemistry (Chemistry World, February 2006, p36). Should closing chemistry departments be resisted if it appears to be part of a natural progression? Is it important to have a departmental status for the subject? This ...

  • Opinion

    Your views: March 2006

    2006-03-03T15:39:00Z

    Faking results - what are the consequences for science?

  • Opinion

    Your views: February 2006

    2006-01-27T09:08:00Z

    How should chemists respond to open access publishing?

  • Opinion

    Letters: February 2006

    2006-01-25T14:08:00Z

    From Edward Johnson I regret to say that Katie Gibb’s article, Uncorking wine’s characteristics, added little to my understanding of wine chemistry (Chemistry World, December 2005, p39). I have been trying to get to the bottom of some wine issues for years. About eight years ago, I spoke ...

  • Opinion

    Letters: December 2005

    2005-11-27T23:03:00Z

    From Graham Hills How many chemistry departments do we need? How long is a piece of string? If you ask a simplistic question you must expect a simplistic answer. All that your correspondents are able to offer are patched-up versions of the status quo (Chemistry World, October 2005, p11). More ...

  • Opinion

    Your views: December 2005

    2005-11-25T17:41:00Z

    The term 'nanotechnology' has been hijacked by physics. Discuss.

  • Opinion

    Letters: January 2006

    2005-10-27T15:40:00Z

    From Barry Knight Richard Biddulph asks whether there is a procedure for neutralising acid inks using zinc diethyl (Chemistry World, November 2005, p32). The Library of Congress, Washington DC, US, did indeed carry out lengthy experiments on deacidifying books with diethyl zinc (DEZ) in the 1980s. However, DEZ reacts violently ...