e d i to ri a l
Chin up, chest out ! I
magine monitoring the ozone hole without optical spectroscopy tools. Imagine modern biology without gel separation and soft ionization MS. Or imagine your household without chemical sensors such as smoke detectors. Despite these and many other examples that underscore the importance of analytical chemistry in science and in everyday life, we still hear clichés, such as “Analytical chemistry is only a service.” Or “Analytical chemistry is technology not science, and hence less important than other areas of chemistry.” Analytical chemists complain about them, but they have not been very successful in obliterating these clichés from the chemistry community.
Attitudes and perceptions Why? What defines the importance of a scientific discipline? Is there some fundamental law that allows us to rank scientific disciplines and subdisciplines? For example, should physics be considered more important than chemistry because some chemical laws are based on physical laws? Biology could be thought of as merely derived from chemistry because the processes of life are based on chemical reactions. However, in the age of biotechnology and genetic manipulation, biologists certainly do not feel inferior to physicists and chemists. I think their attitude is a healthy, constructive one, and it serves their field very well. Although there may be some hierarchy among scientific disciplines, I prefer to focus on the value and perception of analytical chemistry within the scientific community. This, I believe, is largely a result of the behavior and confidence levels of analytical chemists. Physical chemists, for instance, often look at their discipline as being the very foundation of chemistry, from which everything else in the chemical sciences can be derived. Organic chemists view themselves as being the “centerpiece”—synthetic transformations of matter are at the very heart of what chemistry is all about, and graduates in synthetic organic chemistry find good jobs in industry. Chemical engineers may look down on colleagues in the same department because their inventions, optimiza-
tions, models, and control earn the chemical industry millions of dollars. What about analytical chemists? I feel that all too often, analytical chemists have doubts about the value of their work. Constant questioning of the methods and results may be the trademark of a good analytical chemist, but this must not be confused with questioning the value of our science! Surely we cannot expect recognition from our fellow chemists if we lack courage and confidence in our work. Analytical chemists have many reasons to be proud about what they do: Analytical methods and measurement science are of fundamental importance, and without them, chemistry would not be an exact science today. Well-trained analytical chemists have no difficulties finding challenging and interesting jobs in many different sectors. Quality assurance issues in the chemical industry have increasingly important economic and political consequences and are largely a matter for analytical chemists. Analytical chemistry makes important contributions to modern society in many ways, including medical diagnostics. And last but not least, Nobel prizes have been repeatedly awarded for the development of analytical methods, even in recent times. I claim that a positive attitude, a healthy dose of confidence and pride, and courage for initiating a dialog with colleagues within chemistry and beyond will free analytical chemists from their inferiority complex. Renewed self-confidence among analytical chemists will lay the foundations for truly interesting and beneficial new partnerships that are based on mutual respect. Chemistry as a whole will profit from it.
Renato Zenobi ETH–Zürich (Switzerland)
[email protected] A P R I L 1 , 2 0 0 0 / A N A LY T I C A L C H E M I S T R Y
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