{"id":2284,"date":"2008-01-11T05:27:50","date_gmt":"2008-01-11T05:27:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/2008\/01\/reactions-harry-gibson.html"},"modified":"2008-01-11T05:27:50","modified_gmt":"2008-01-11T05:27:50","slug":"reactions_harry_gibson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/2008\/01\/reactions_harry_gibson.html","title":{"rendered":"Reactions – Harry Gibson"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

I enjoyed chemistry in high school and did the usual teenage things with zinc dust and sulfur rockets and electroplating. However, I started my college career aimed at chemical engineering, but I was tripped up by engineering drawing, which in those days was pen and india ink \u2014 very demanding. Since I was doing well in general chemistry, I decided to switch and became a chemistry major. I truly enjoyed the lab experiences, particularly analytical and organic labs, and was then hooked.<\/p>\n

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

I had wanted to be a jet pilot when I was an undergraduate, but a bone tumor and a broken leg ended that dream.<\/p>\n

Now if I had to choose another profession, I would be a jazz musician. Though I have no real formal training past high school, I enjoy drumming along with CDs of the greats of jazz, traditional, blues and funk.<\/p>\n

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

Chemists have contributed tremendously to society in a myriad of ways that the public generally does not appreciate. Our contributions range from medicine to clothing to electronics. I anticipate that our contributions will continue to grow in importance as we experience changes in raw materials when petroleum feed stocks are depleted.<\/p>\n

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

This is a hypothetical question that I have not pondered before \u2014 too pragmatic, I guess. I guess my choice would be Thelonius Monk, the great jazz pianist. I would like to know how his mind worked to come up with the truly original way he played.<\/p>\n

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

It was on August 25, 1988, according to my notebook. I carried out the reaction of 2-methoxycarbonyl-1,2-dihydroisoquinoline with benzaldehyde using NaH in DMF<\/span>. The two diastereoisomeric carbonates were formed in 54:46 ratio.<\/p>\n

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

For the CD it would be a very tough choice between one of Monk’s compilations or one by Monty Alexander, another swinging pianist.<\/p>\n

As to the book, I would probably pick a historical treatise, such as one by Stephen Ambrose on World War II.<\/p>\n

Harry Gibson<\/a> is in the Department of Chemistry at Virginia Tech and works on self-assemblies of the pseudorotaxane, rotaxane and catenane types, as well as efforts with endohedral metallofullerenes and ionic liquids.<\/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-2284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reactions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2284","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=2284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2284\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.nature.com\/thescepticalchymist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}