Chemical Education Today edited by
From Past Issues
Kathryn R. Williams
How Does One Become a Chemist?
Department of Chemistry University of Florida Gainesville, FL 32611-7200
by Máximo Barón
This is a question with many answers. The problem is where and how to find the answers. Fortunately, a few individuals have told the fascinating stories of how they became chemists. This is one of these stories. Way back in 1953, when my personal collection of JCE was only two years old, I had completed my final year of studies at the University of Buenos Aires, was taking my last examinations, and had started to think about a doctoral thesis. I wanted to become a chemist but, despite all the good advice from friends, family, and professors, I had the strange feeling that there was something missing. There were no clear guidelines to answer the questions I was asking myself about choosing a good road. However, I had my copies of JCE. To my good fortune, a current issue contained “How One Becomes a Chemist”, an article by none other than Wilhelm Ostwald (1). It was a translation of a talk he gave at the opening of the Christmas celebration in his Institute in Leipzig on December 19, 1905. The custom was to invite a distinguished chemist from outside of the Institute. That year, because he had to cut short his trip to Germany, they were unable to get Svante Arrhenius. So Ostwald stepped in and told his own fascinating story. It began early in his childhood, when Ostwald became aware of a character trait—an insatiable curiosity for everything that the world around him had to offer. One day, a book on pyrotechnics fell into his hands, and off he went to make fireworks. This he did with some friends who were equally inclined, to the great dismay of his mother, who found “her pots and pans put to uses that were not anticipated when they were purchased”. The book also gave him the first glimpse of real chemical information and whetted his appetite for more: “[I] also learned to prepare some materials that I needed, and in addition gained some facility in learning to help myself when the book failed me.” In other words, at a very early stage, Ostwald learned the virtue of self-reliance. Ostwald next turned to photography. About the time he entered the Realgymnasium, he traded powders for solutions. He made plates, took pictures, and developed them into suitable prints. In Ostwald’s day, photography was quite an adventure. There was a lot of practical chemistry involved, and the results were visible for all to see. Here again, he had to learn to help himself. The situation was also valid to some extent during my own younger years, which coincided with the Second World War. Good photographic material was not easy to obtain, and, as I found out, a lot was left to the ability and ingenuity of the amateur. These diversions did not adversely affect Ostwald’s studies, although he does admit that his extracurricular interests led to a two-year delay at the Realgymnasium. Still, he was able to complete secondary school and, later, his first degree in chemistry. After graduation, the tale of his early years began with his managing to sail through the seas of hopes, doubts, dreams, and all the rest so typical of that period of life. What Ostwald did was very simple: he accepted a posi-
tion with a good teacher, Professor of Physics von Oettingen, who gave him what I consider the best possible advice for a young person in his situation: “Never again in your whole lifetime will you have a similar, quiet, undisturbed period for your own work.” So Ostwald tried to absorb everything that passed in front of his eyes and ears—working at the bench, reading the literature, Portrait of Wilhelm Ostwald, talking to everybody close to JCE, 1930, 7, 730. him, following any and every lead that his curiosity placed before him. Beginning as a chemist and working with a physicist, Ostwald achieved that broad, complete, and well-rounded personality that made him famous. When I finished reading the article, I was literally swept off my feet. Quite unknowingly, I had followed a very similar road: curiosity, fireworks, photography, and work at a lab under a good teacher. Times may have changed, to be sure, but I am convinced that, with the appropriate changes, all those who approach chemistry follow a similar road leading from curiosity, through experimental hobbies, and toward formal studies. It was all there in Ostwald’s words, and it was indeed the solution to my initial query. Can a beginner ask for more? Evidently not! I realized that I had my answer and did the best I could to use the “advice” judiciously. I am no Ostwald, but my life as a chemist was, and still is, rich and full of the unexpected. I keep active and enjoy every minute I have at the bench, or reading, or studying, or teaching—but, above all, learning about the many wonders our incredible world unfurls before our eyes when we take the time to look. Under these circumstances one usually says, “As I now look back.” But I will do quite the opposite and say, “As I look forward!” I feel deeply grateful to Herr Professor Dr. Wilhelm Ostwald for having told his story in such vivid and warm words and also to JCE for making it available. I can only wish that as many as possible of my young colleagues may be blessed with a similar experience in their professional lives. The earlier the better! Literature Cited 1. Ostwald, W. J. Chem. Educ. 1953, 30, 606–608.
Máximo Barón is a professor of physics at the Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales of the Universidad de Belgrano. The address is 1324 Villanueva, 1426 Buenos Aires, Argentina. fax 54-11-4821-4887; email:
[email protected] JChemEd.chem.wisc.edu • Vol. 77 No. 7 July 2000 • Journal of Chemical Education
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