{"id":2213,"date":"2007-08-31T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2007-08-31T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/2007\/08\/reactions-peter-cragg.html"},"modified":"2007-08-31T05:00:00","modified_gmt":"2007-08-31T05:00:00","slug":"reactions_peter_cragg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/2007\/08\/reactions_peter_cragg.html","title":{"rendered":"Reactions – Peter Cragg"},"content":{"rendered":"

1. What made you want to be a chemist?<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a genetically inherited condition \u2013 my father was one. When I was very young he would show me test tubes of different coloured solutions and I\u2019d watch them change as he mixed them up. Then he would make bright pink solutions \u2018disappear\u2019 by adding colourless liquids. Who knew that acid-base chemistry could be so much fun! All this gave me a great interest \u2013 if not a great ability – in chemistry. After a degree from Nottingham, I ended up in Tuscaloosa, Alabama working in Jerry Atwood\u2019s group. It was an outstanding training ground for supramolecular chemists and where I really felt the excitement of chemical research and discovery for the first time.<\/p>\n

2. If you weren’t a chemist and could do any other job, what would it be – and why?<\/em><\/p>\n

Fiction writer – though I doubt my family would appreciate trying to live off the proceeds. I have just started my second science book and enjoy the process enormously – but it would be a lot easier if I didn\u2019t have to make complex molecules look good in two dimensions or hunt for appropriate papers to reference.<\/p>\n

3. How can chemists best contribute to the world at large?<\/em><\/p>\n

Clearly by doing what they do best \u2013 making discoveries at the molecular level which eventually make a positive impact upon everyone.<\/p>\n

4. Which historical figure would you most like to have dinner with \u2013 and why?<\/em><\/p>\n

An alchemist – particularly one working in Rudolf II\u2019s court in Prague. I\u2019m fascinated by the split that occurred during the European Renaissance when analytical science emerged from alchemy\/metallurgy and left the philosophical and mystical aspects behind. Paracelsus, however, would not be welcome at the table. Anyone who believes that \u201cthe true use of chemistry is to make medicines, not gold\u201d has entirely missed the point of third stream funding in the modern university. Maybe, if I listened carefully enough, I could learn how to transmute base metals into gold and never have to write another grant proposal to fund my research. Actually, for those who are interested, the appendix to the 1709 edition of Wilson\u2019s Chemistry contains a dozen ways to accomplish this feat.<\/p>\n

5. When was the last time you did an experiment in the lab – and what was it?<\/em><\/p>\n

I have some interesting, but unfunded, collaborations with colleagues who want samples of compounds, so a couple of days ago I cooked up a batch of oxacalix3<\/a><\/sup>arene from scratch and filtered it off yesterday. There is great satisfaction in knowing that I can still get things to work in the lab myself.<\/p>\n

6. If exiled on a desert island, what one book and one CD would you take with you?<\/em><\/p>\n

I ought to take Joyce\u2019s Ulysses<\/em> to read as I\u2019m half way through right now but I doubt I\u2019d enjoy rereading it too often. Perhaps C. P. Snow\u2019s The New Men<\/em>? No. Thomas Wharton\u2019s Salamander<\/em> \u2013 at its core is the creation of an \u2018infinite book\u2019 so it will keep me going for a while.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d listen to something live by the Grateful Dead (yes, that\u2019s my tie dye T-shirt on the cover of January\u2019s Dalton Transactions<\/em>) but, as they played for hours without a break, it would be impossible to fit much on to a single CD. Instead I would load up my mp3 player with their complete four night run at the Fillmore West in 1969 and maybe some jazzier material from 1973. To fill up space I\u2019d add some John Coltrane (the different takes of \u2018India\u2019 and \u2018Spiritual\u2019 from the Village Vanguard recordings) and a good version of J S Bach\u2019s B minor mass played on appropriately \u2018authentic\u2019 instruments.<\/p>\n

Peter Cragg<\/a> is at the School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences at the University of Brighton and works on artificial transmembrane ion channels as part of a wider interest in the application of supramolecular chemistry to problems in the life sciences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1. What made you want to be a chemist?  Read more<\/a> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reactions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2213","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2213"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2213\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2213"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2213"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2213"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}