At this time when sustainability is the pre-eminent issue facing the future of mankind, the need for outstanding young scientists - in particular chemists - to solve the plethora of sustainability problems has never been more vital. Recently science has become so intimately cross-disciplinary that fields such as molecular physics and molecular biology, which once appeared rather disparate have coalesced into arguably the most exciting branch of chemistry - much of it re-packaged under a new name - Nanoscience and Nanotechnology. Whatever it is called, it is nothing other than the chemistry of the 21st century.
The Chemistry Olympiad promises to be a powerful catalyst of enthusiasm in bright young people to tackle what are not only vital humanitarian problems but excitingly fundamental scientific ones too. As my colleague the nobel laureate, Sir John Cornforth, has pointed out - "If you are a scientist, before long you realise that if the future is in anyone\'s hands, it\'s in yours."
-Professir Sir Harry Kroto, Nobel Laureate and Patron of the 41st IChO
|
 |
