International
Chemical societies back lUPAC affiliate plan Individual membership scheme probably will replace efforts to form global chemical society, support for which appears to be meager at best Dermot A. O'Sullivan C&EN, London
Chemical societies around the world have lent support to the International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry's plan to establish an individual affiliates scheme within IUPAC (C&EN, Sept. 21, page 11). Representatives of 28 chemical societies at the 8th International Meeting of Chemical Society Presidents held last month in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, voted their support for this scheme, which probably would replace efforts to form an international chemical society. The onus now is on IUPAC to come up with a workable plan. The task won't be an easy one for Tom S. West, director of Macaulay Institute of Soil Research in Aberdeen, Scotland, and members of the ad hoc IUPAC study committee he chairs. Just one dimension of the problems they face is that chemists who might be interested in joining include those from developing countries with stringent limitations on available cash, and people from East European countries where the "hard" currency needed for subscription payments mostly is lacking. For their part, however, the chemical society presidents were visibly relieved that they are spared continuing deliberation on how, or whether, to form an international chemical society of individual membership, an idea first proposed in 1976 by Nobel Laureate Glenn T. Seaborg. At their 1979 presidents' meeting in Washington, D.C., they set up the Study Committee on the Formation of an International Chemical Society. Its 12-member executive committee is drawn from the Arab Union of Chemists, Brazil, Costa Rica, the Federation of European Chemical Societies, West Germany, Japan, the People's Republic of China, Poland, 16 C&EN Oct. 5, 1981
West: will revolutionize IUPAC
Thailand, Togo, the U.S., and the U.S.S.R., and is chaired by Simao Mathias, president of the Brazilian Chemical Society. During the past two years, the executive committee met for discussions as far afield as Costa Rica and Thailand. And it invited comments frorn the presidents of 55 chemical societies throughout the world, all for whom addresses could be located. From their response, support for an independent international chemical society appears meager at best. Indeed, 24 chemical society presidents signed a letter to American Chemical Society past-president Gardner W. Stacy stating that "international collaboration would be better served by building on existing institutions and, in particular, on the existing national chemical societies and on federations of these societies." They urged "that scarce resources will not be expended in attempting to create a single international society, which we do not believe could be viable either now or in the foreseeable future." At Belgrade, Tom West outlined the fledgling individual affiliates scheme approved at lUPAC's general assembly in Louvain, Belgium, the previous week (C&EN, Sept. 21, page 11). Its main features, as now envisaged, are: • Each IUPAC national adhering organization (NAO) would be free to
decide whether to set up an affiliate program. • An individual chemist could become a IUPAC affiliate through his or her NAO, or, if appropriate, through some other body such as a national chemical society. • A chemist living in a country that % does not have IUPAC membership status could become an affiliate through the country's chemical society. • Affiliates could pay dues through their NAO or chemical society, according to national decisions. • There would be privileges within IUPAC in recognition of their support. West reminded his audience that lUPAC's objectives are to promote continuing cooperation among chemists of the member countries; study topics of international importance to pure and applied chemistry that need regulation, standardization, or codification; cooperate with other international bodies that deal with topics of a chemical nature; and contribute to the advancement of pure and applied chemistry in all its aspects. He points out that there are fewer than 1000 people worldwide active in IUPAC business. "This is very small when compared to the total number of chemists," he admits. "We don't have enough young people coming into IUPAC, and we want to broaden its base. If the affiliation scheme goes through, it will revolutionize IUPAC completely." In the ensuing discussion, Glynn Michael, executive director of the Chemical Institute of Canada, commented, "All want to avoid the proliferation of organizations. Building on IUPAC is one we should follow. On a more positive basis, the action would do a great deal in some countries to make IUPAC work known better than it is now, and enable individuals to participate." Adds Sir Ewart Jones, president of the U.K.'s Royal Society of Chemistry, "Here is a real possibility of meeting the needs, and fulfilling the aspirations, of individuals who feel they want to do more for chemistry on an international basis." Summing up, Mathias expressed the view that what IUPAC is trying to
accomplish generally conforms with the aspirations of the chemical society presidents' study committee. "It's now in the hands of IUP AC to put all the ideals we have in mind into action," he says. On his recommendation, the study committee "will remain as a quiet body," and be available to help Tom West and IUP AC in discussions. Depending on the outcome, the study committee "probably will be dissolved in 1983," Mathias suggests. With the international chemical society business essentially out of the way, participants at the Belgrade meeting turned their attention to other items on the agenda. A rundown on the American Chemical Society and its programs presented by ACS president Albert C. Zettlemoyer sparked an animated discussion on the role chemical societies are playing in the promotion of "professionalism" among chemists. "Some of us look at it in terms of ethical behavior or of professional development, while others may think first of status in the community, or of income, or employer-employee relationships," Zettlemoyer says. "Actually, it is all of these, and more. Professionalism includes the interaction of the individual with his or her employer, colleagues, and society at large. "Although ACS was founded in 1876 as a learned society, it was not until the 1930's that much emphasis was put on professionalism. ACS has always been primarily a scientific educational association, but for many years it also has taken a special interest in the professional concerns of individual scientists and engineers. To satisfy this special interest, ACS has developed professional activities in chemical education, career development, and recognition of awards." Requirements on the part of individuals to qualify for membership in chemical societies vary widely from one country to the next. In the case of ACS, for example, a person must have achieved a specified standard of chemical education at a recognized university or institution. In West Germany, the Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (the German Chemical Society) imposes even stricter regulations. As explained by Wolfgang Fritsche, its secretary general, only those who can conduct original research programs are acceptable for membership. This calls for a Ph.D. or, at a minimum, a diploma, the West German equivalent of a master's degree.
IOCD: world network to aid progress in developing nations Fully 9 5 % of world scientific research is carried out in industrialized countries, and recent advances in chemistry have left problems of hunger and disease in developing countries unsolved. The need for a mechanism that developing countries can use to reach self-sufficiency in chemistry is evident. So stated the United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization in announcing the formation of the International Organization for Chemical Sciences in Development (IOCD). The new organization came into being at a three-day meeting early in July at UNESCO's Paris headquarters. The overall aim of IOCD is to link chemists and institutions around the world in cooperative efforts with developing countries aiming to acquire the trained manpower, the educational facilities, and the chemical establishments they need to manage their own progress. Elected to head IOCD as president is Glenn T. Seaborg, chemistry professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Vice presidents include Kamchorn Manunapichu, president of the Federation of Asian Chemical Societies; Sherman Thomas of Costa Rica, vice president of the Latin American Federation of Chemical Societies; and Donald E. U. Ekong, vice chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Secretary-general is chemistry professor Pierre Crabbe, a Belgian chemist currently chairman of the department of chemistry at the University of Missouri, Columbia. A priority area of activity in which IOCD already has gotten a start is providing services for chemical analysis and biological testing. The idea is for existing facilities to be made available to developing country scientists and the creation of new ones encouraged as developing countries increase their number of trained technicians. This program is being supported by Instituto de Productos Naturales Organicos del CISC in Tenerife, Spain; the Institute of Scientific & Industrial Research, Japan; the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; the National Research Centre, Cairo; and the University of Illinois and the University of Missouri, Rolla, in the U.S. A second activity already under way is establishment of international and regional networks in chemical education that stress interactions between universities and industry. Two further projects will be added in the near future. One is a project in
chemical synthesis geared to finding cures for major tropical diseases. The second project is a major one under the general heading "chemical research for development." IOCD is nongovernmental and nonprofit. Although a small secretariat will be based at UNESCO in Paris, the organization will have no physical center. Rather it will operate through networks of cooperating institutions. IOCD will be governed by a council consisting of eminent chemists representing various regions of the world and various branches of chemistry. International, nongovernmental organizations in the chemical sciences also will be represented on the council. The council will decide which programs IOCD will undertake and their priorities. Each program will operate through a panel of scientists responsible for its implementation and operation. Each panel will have a convenor, who also will sit on the council. UNESCO is financing the startup of IOCD for three years. Further support is expected from international foundations and industrial concerns that can benefit from rapid advances in IOCD activities. Among those attending the meeting to constitute IOCD, in addition to the officers elected, were: S. Bergstrom of Sweden, president of the Nobel Foundation; Wolfgang Fritsche of West Germany, secretary of the Federation of European Chemical Societies; Antonio G. Gonzalez of Instituto de Productos Naturales Organicos del CISC, Spain; K. Hayashi of the Institute of Scientific & Industrial Research, Osaka, Japan; Sir Ewart Jones of Oxford University, U.K., and president of the Royal Society of Chemistry; Marc Julia of Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris, and a member of the French Academy of Sciences; Aleksandra Komhouser of the University of Ljubljana, Yugoslavia; Kamel Mahmoud, president of the Egyptian Chemical Society; C. N. R. Rao of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; C. Tamm of the Institut fur Organische Chemie der Universitat Basel, Switzerland; and Heinrich Zollinger of Switzerland, president of the International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry. UNESCO notes that the importance to be given IOCD to ensure progress in health was shown by participation at the Paris meeting of Liang Huang, a director of the Institute of Materia Medica, Beijing, China, and Elkan R. Blout of the Harvard School of Public Health.
Oct. 5, 1981 C&EN
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International
Michael: building on IUPAC
At the other end of the spectrum are the chemical societies of the Netherlands, Sweden, and elsewhere, that open membership to anyone with an interest in chemistry, regardless of whether they have a degree in the subject. "It is very important that we remain open to everyone, since the image of chemistry is generally low," comments Nils E. Stjernstrom, president of the Swedish Chemical Society. "The professional relations aspect is protected by the trade unions. Our approach is to separate professionalism from scientific affairs," he says. University of Zurich chemistry professor Andre Dreiding, who also is president of the Swiss Committee for Chemistry, described how chemical affairs are conducted in his country. There are six scientific bodies—the Swiss Chemical Society, the Swiss Chemical Association, the Swiss Society for Analytical & Applied Chemistry, the Swiss Society for Biochemistry, the Swiss Society for Clinical Chemistry, and the Swiss Society for Instrumental Analysis & Microchemistry. In addition, there is the Swiss Society for Chemical Industry, which, as its name suggests, is oriented more toward the industrial aspects of the science. "These seven independent societies are united in an organization called the Swiss Committee for Chemistry," Dreiding explains. "This committee fulfills tasks of common interest to Swiss chemistry. These include coordinating the various interests within Switzerland where public relations or questions of training are concerned. It also represents Swiss chemistry when dealing with international organizations such as 18
C&ENOct. 5, 1981
IUPAC and the Federation of European Chemical Societies." Jose Miguel Gamboa, immediate past-president of the Spanish Royal Chemical Society, a learned body, pointed to the overlapping of its membership with that of the Association of Spanish Chemists, which deals more with professional affairs. "We now are looking toward amalgamation, or unification, of the two organizations," he declares. Such an amalgamation already has taken place in the U.K. with the formation in 1980 of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Sir Ewart notes. It came about through the merging of the Chemical Society (London) and the Royal Institute of Chemistry. And in France, Fernand G. Gallais, past-president of the Societe Chimique de France, observes that plans are well along toward merging that organization with the Societe de Chimie Physique. The Belgrade delegates discussed at some length ways in which chemical societies in the developed countries might be able to help their counterparts in those that are less developed. Hsing-hua Huang, president of the Singapore National Institute of Chemistry, notes that considerable problems surround the servicing of analytical instruments. He criticizes makers of such equipment who, he claims, infrequently send technicians around on service calls. It's not uncommon, he says, for units to sit idle for months awaiting necessary repairs. Raymond P. Marielld, ACS executive director, concurs that maintenance of equipment constitutes a major problem. "Southeast Asia presents particular difficulties because it covers such an enormous area," he points out. Switzerland's Dreiding, on the other hand, somewhat wryly comments that slow service isn't something necessarily peculiar to developing countries. Fritsche recalled that one of the objectives of the International Organization for Chemical Sciences in Development (IOCD) is to include servicing and repair of equipment, and training of local staff members in developing countries. IOCD, sponsored by the United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization, officially came into being last July. It aims, he says, "to encourage cooperation among chemists and chemical institutions throughout the world, and to harness the chemical sciences to work toward solutions of socioeconomic problems in less-developed countries."
Zettlemoyer: role in professionalism
At the close of the Belgrade session, the concept of the meeting of chemical society presidents came under review. These meetings have been held every two years since the first in 1967, which ACS hosted. On that occasion, nine chemical societies were represented. The number has grown steadily to the record 36 at the 1979 meeting, also hosted by ACS. Fritsche, speaking on behalf of the Federation of European Chemical Societies, of which he is secretary, expressed the view held by some that "these meetings have little more than social value." Moreover, he adds, because presidents are in office for limited periods, half of those elected for one year have no chance of attending, and few have the opportunity of being present more than once. Nevertheless, there was widespread agreement among the Belgrade delegates that such meetings are worthwhile and should be continued. Gerrit den Boef, president-elect of the Royal Netherlands Chemical Society, in fact, voiced concern about the lack of time available for fuller discussions, suggesting that the meetings might be extended to two full days at least instead of the day and a half that has' been the norm in the past. And Canada's Michael indicated that people from "professional" societies as opposed to purely "scientific" ones would find it interesting to attend, and should be invited. The next meeting will be held at Denmark's Technical University in Lyngby in 1983. It will coincide with IUPAC's business meeting and general assembly there, to which the chemical society presidents are invited. •
