1. What made you want to be a chemist?

In reality I am a materials scientist, chemists are my ‘cousins’. I chose to become a materials scientist because I could not decide between physics and chemistry, and materials science seemed a good compromise. I am still truly happy for that choice even though as my career has progressed I have drifted more and more towards chemistry.

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

Well, I chose science because I felt (and keep feeling) that it was a way to help people around me and develop knowledge that would eventually lead to improved living conditions for everybody. This dream keeps driving me everyday and I would not exchange it for anything else. So if I could not be a scientist I would probably like to be a politician, with the exact same spirit. On the other hand, an old dream of mine is that of being a photographer, one that tells the world with an artistic touch like Henry Cartier-Bresson.

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

Well, we can all use our talents to improve the way we live in this world, using less and less of its resources and we could all mitigate the toughness that illness and pain bring to life. A far dream is to use science to limit the divide between rich and poor countries. In a world in which technology is evenly distributed the difference due to uneven access to natural resources (like water) would be mitigated (I think…).

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

Hum, this is a tough one, do soccer players count? Just kidding…I would definitively like to have dinner with the ones that changed the world when others did not see the need for it. And they did it for the better, with love. So Saint Francis of Assisi and Gandhi would top my list. But if it is only one dinner (too short to exhaust all of my questions…) why not Cleopatra? Just kidding again…

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

A serious one? I don’t recall…Very, very sad!!! I don’t even remember what my last experiment as a post-doc was. I should, it would be equivalent to the last kiss to a loved one! I do many experiments because I teach a lab class, so the last one would be measuring the size of polymer coils in dilute solutions with DLS. Nothing like the thrill of a true research-oriented experiment.

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

The book would be something I have not fully read but always wanted to finish reading, so the Divina Commedia (Holy Comedy) by Dante Alighieri. The CD would be a Pink Floyd one, really tough to pick one though, I love them all.

Francesco Stellacci is in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at MIT and works on supramolecular materials science, in particular his interests are in the interactions that supramolecular assemblies of molecules have with the outside world when they have a specific nanostructure.

1. What made you want to be a chemist?

At first I was simply trying to impress Christina White, my organic teaching assistant when I was a freshmen in college. When I later realized the tremendous power of organic synthesis to promote the understanding and betterment of human health, I was hooked.

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

When I was a kid I dreamed of becoming a major league baseball player, but talent (or rather a lack thereof!) has a funny way of working these things out.

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

I always tell my students that when you learn how to make molecules you make yourself a very powerful person. It is truly staggering when you let your mind race about all of the important problems that ultimately represent challenges at the molecular level. I think the most impacting chemists tend to be those that identify an important molecular problem and then solve it. Interestingly, the problem identification may be the most critical part of this process.

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

It’s tough to pick just one. I guess if I were forced to make a choice I would have to say Sir Isaac Newton – now that guy could pick a good problem!

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

I still try to work in lab as much as possible, but these days I usually just make starting materials for my students. This gives me the opportunity to stay involved without getting in the way of the students’ discovery process. This was one of the many very useful pieces of advice that I got from Scott Miller when I was preparing to launch my own group.

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

My favorite book is 100 Years of Solitude, and if I could only have one CD I would probably take the soundtrack from Garden State. But to be honest, if I were exiled on a desert island I would spend most of my time trying to get back!

Marty Burke is an assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. His research focuses on the synthesis and study of small molecules with the capacity to perform higher-order, protein-like functions.

1. What made you want to be a chemist?

Science ran in my family – my father was a geology professor and my mother was a botanist. I used to visit my father at work and the geology department had display cases with beautiful crystalline minerals that used to fascinate me. The breakthrough came when I first encountered chemistry at school and found that I didn’t have to be limited to gazing at beautiful crystals in a glass case, I could make them myself!

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

I would be drawn to something that had a similar combination of being people-oriented, practically-oriented and involving lots of problem solving. After I was drawn into chemistry with its necessary hours of time spent in labs I became very interested in outdoor activities – not always a good mix. I have also always liked writing and reading and been interested in the publishing industry. How could I combine all of these? Maybe I should have been born 150 years ago and been one of those intrepid explorers that broke new scientific ground by travelling to exotic places and observing and documenting what they found there.

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

The solutions to the major problems facing the world at present – finding energy sources that can provide quality of life for the world’s population without further damage to the environment – will be chemical solutions. Particularly in the area of energy and sustainability it is chemists who are defining the problems and seeking the answers.

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

Alfred Stock. I teach and research in boron chemistry and it amazes me how Stock managed to achieve such a wealth of chemistry, preparing and handling toxic and air-sensitive compounds without the benefit of our present-day sophisticated equipment and analytical tools.

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

It depends on what counts – yesterday I helped an undergraduate student in the teaching lab crystallise her nickel complex. The last time I did a real experiment in the lab would have been in 1993 on sabbatical leave with Phil Power at UC Davis.

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

The book would be the Bible – good ripping yarns, narrative history, lots of pages with fine print so it would be a lengthy read, and maybe have some handy advice for coping with the spiritual and psychological side of being exiled on a desert island. The CD would be Handel’s Messiah – similar reasons, music that goes from the depths of despair to the heights of joy, plus I could sing along to the alto part.

Penny Brothers is in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, and works on porphyrin and corrole complexes containing two boron atoms, which show unusual structural and reactivity at both boron and the ligands.