1. What made you want to be a chemist?

Actually, the first thing I remember wanting to be was an astronomer. However, as I grew older I got to thinking that there were very limited employment opportunities for astronomers. Fortunately, the father of my best friend in high school was a chemistry professor (Prof. Wolfgang Walter, at the Universität Hamburg), and he supplied us with glassware, chemicals, and some initial demonstrations. Pretty soon I was hooked on ‘making things’. Those were the days when a kid could go to the drug store and buy some serious chemicals. My favorite chemical memory is the preparation and distillation of elemental bromine on a rather large scale in our kitchen. To this day I love chemical synthesis.

2. If you weren’t a chemist and could do any other job, what would it be – and why?

I would want to be a glassblower or work with glass in some capacity. Glass is an absolutely fabulous material with incredible chemical and physical properties. The transformation of molten glass into intricate solid structures has always fascinated me, and I love the feel and look of glass objects. The fragility only adds to the allure.

3. How can chemists best contribute to the world at large?

That depends on what kind of chemist you are. As a professor, I think my contribution to the world are the people I train. In a more general sense, the most important problems humans are facing involve chemistry. Renewable energy, environmental protection, and pharmaceuticals are some of the obvious challenges that will keep chemists busy.

4. Which historical figure would you most like to have dinner with – and why?

Jesus Christ – the real historical person, that is. My father (a psychotherapist by profession) spent much of his life trying to understand this man, and the subsequent development of Christianity. He had some interesting conjectures about Jesus’ life, and I would like to ask him about those.

5. When was the last time you did an experiment in the lab – and what was it?

About three months ago. I helped a graduate student measure the amount of gas given off in a reaction, using a Toepler pump. We don’t use this apparatus very often, and I always seem to be the only one in the lab who remembers how to operate it.

6. If exiled on a desert island, what one book and one CD would you take with you?

Hmmm – a desert island with amenities like CD players? I love the music of Charlie Parker – so a compilation of his best songs would be my choice. If I had to be there for a really long time, an alto sax would be nice, to practice playing along. As for the book, I would take Darwin’s ‘The Origin of Species’. I firmly believe in evolution, but I have never taken the time to read his book. Besides, I gather it has some tips about survival on an island.

Klaus Theopold is currently Chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Delaware and works on the synthesis and characterization of transition metal compounds with interesting structure and reactivity.

A report by NIH researchers was published today discussing the results of their survey of more than 1,300 postdocs working at the NIH (43 percent of them were women). The researchers were trying to figure out why so many women leave academic science during their postdoc years.

The two major reasons that emerged were: (1) women bear a disproportionate share of the family responsibilities (and place family life higher on their priority list) and they see life as a successful PI conflicting with a decent family/personal life, especially if you’re the primary caregiver; and (2) lack of self-confidence.

Reason 1 is well known and discussed and is the driver behind initiatives that some universities have undertaken such as subsidized child care. It’s relatively easy for universities to address reason 1 with programs….not sure how effective these programs are, but at least universities have identified things they can do about this.

But reason #2 is far more difficult to talk about and deal with and hence, I don’t get the impression that as much has been done to address reason #2. My big question: why do women lack self-confidence? I still remember a question asked by a female MIT grad student at a forum I attended about women-in-science in the spring: why is it that women tend to suffer from the ‘imposter syndrome’ and men don’t? (Imposter syndrome: a feeling that I don’t belong at this university or in this lab. I’m not good enough and soon someone will discover that and kick me out.) There was no good answer given at the forum.

Here’s what the report said about the issue of self-confidence.

Despite a similar self-assessment of professional skills across the two genders, more than 59% of men, but only 40% of women, were confident that they would obtain a PI position. This tendency of women to express lower confidence in their skills was illustrated further by their lower expectations of obtaining tenure. Assuming they were granted a PI position, 55% of men, but only 43% of women, were highly confident that they would achieve tenure, and this gender-based difference increased if only fellows from the USA were considered. Whether this lower confidence originates from foreseen future challenges that affect women more than men—such as childbearing, child care and/or a less favourable professional environment—or whether they indicate that women underestimate their professional ability, is an important question that requires further study.

Indeed. Where does this lack of self-confidence come from?