Letters from our readers – Page 13
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Opinion
Letters: July 2005
I am in complete agreement with the views expressed by Huw Pritchard in his letter (Chemistry World, June 2005, p31). In my first chemistry lesson in 1961 the master was talking about the action of metals on water. He illustrated his talk by dropping pieces of sodium ...
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Opinion
Letters: June 2005
From Roger Fenwick I noted with interest two references to the European Commission’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) in your May edition (pages 2, 7). That chemistry is very much to the fore in the Commission’s recently-published working paper reflects the hard work of national societies, FECS/EuCheMS and Cefic in recent ...
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Opinion
Letters: May 2005
From Brian Shelley I was very interested to read Philip Ball’s Ten most beautiful experiments in chemistry (Chemistry World, April 2005, p32). I agree that they all have elements of beauty in them. However I would like to suggest an addition to the list: the discovery of the element promethium. ...
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Opinion
Letters: March 2005
Five years ago, at the Royal Institution launch of Simon Garfield’s book on Perkin’s ’Mauve’, the author told me that he thought Perkin’s grave was no longer at Harrow. I was surprised at that because I had visited it sporadically for over 30 years - partly to see that it ...
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Opinion
Your views... February 2005
Q: What one chemistry fact should every member of the public know?
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Opinion
Letters: April 2005
I wanted to mention that there is an error in the Chemistry World article, Record breakers about the world’s smallest test tube (December 2004, p7). In the initial press release we errantly listed the volume of our test tube as 10-24 litres, or a yoctolitre. In reality, it is 10-21 ...
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Opinion
Your views... January 2005
Is the merger of chemistry departments to form broader science departments a good thing?
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Opinion
Letters: December 2004
From Alberto Nunez Selles, president, Cuban Chemical Society My sincere congratulations for your article Biotechnology: the 2nd Cuban revolution (Chemistry World, November, 2004, p38) giving an objective picture of present bioscience and chemistry R&D in Cuba. Just for historical reasons, I wish to call your attention to a pitfall in ...
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Opinion
Letters: October 2004
From Steve Jeffery Readers intrigued by Katharine Sanderson’s review of Carl Djerassi’s play Calculus (Chemistry World, September 2004, p64) and the rivalry between Newton and Leibniz might also be interested in author Neal Stephenson’s hugely ambitious and entertaining alternate history, the three volume Baroque Cycle (Quicksilver, The confusion, and System ...
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Opinion
Letters: August 2004
From Norman Nicolson At last someone who is trying to strike a blow at the rubbish published in the newspapers in the name of science. I am a Guardian reader and have made similar comments in the Bad Science section of Guardian Unlimited. There is another writer of a similar ...
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Opinion
Letters: July 2004
From Jim Naismith University chemistry is in crisis. Many people, including myself in a Chemistry in Britain Comment [May, 2002], warned that on our current course we were headed towards this. Increased transparency of costing would reveal chemistry to be an expensive loss maker, coupled with the decreasing undergraduate ...
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Opinion
Letters: June 2004
From Susan Kelly, Coordinator -Chemistry, Thurston Community College Our chairman of governors was keen to draw our attention to [the RSC’s] article in The Daily Telegraph of February 18 2004, entitled ’British chemistry faces extinction’. We are a state school, of 1350 students, which as from September 2004 will have ...
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Opinion
Letters: May 2004
From David Tilbrook The Knovel service the RSC has provided is exceptional! Congratulations. At last [RSC] membership is delivering something of real practical benefit to the practising chemists in the country. I would make one comment though. You aren’t advertising this service very much and it is a real membership ...
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Opinion
Letters: April 2004
Onion cure-all From Peter Rowland C L Reid’s onion-slice cure for stings (Chemistry World, March 2004, p24) by hymenoptera is probable and important. When onion cells are damaged, the enzyme lachrymatory-factor synthase decomposes S-1-propenylcysteine-sulphoxide to give the volatile propanthial-S-oxide. In contact with aqueous tissue this hydrolyses to give propanol, sulphuric ...
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Opinion
Letters: March 2004
From Dr G J White The discovery of the role of the messenger PLC zeta as described in John Parrington’s article Kiss of life? (Chemistry World, February 2004, p38) is an intriguing and possible part of a universal mechanism having a wider perspective. The article did not say if calcium ...