Chemistry World Blog

I’ve joined over 1000 other delegates at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris for the launch ceremony of the International Year of Chemistry (IYC). Unesco and the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (Iupac) are partners for IYC2011 and this two day event brings together students, researchers and representatives of industry along with other interested parties for a celebration of chemistry.

The inauguration address discussed the aims of IYC2011: to promote chemistry to the wider public and to celebrate women in science. In addition, the IYC committee hopes that events through the year will explore how chemical research is critical for solving our most vexing global problems involving food, water, health, energy and transportation. This ties up with the RSC roadmap and I’m really looking forward to the majority of the programme, which will discuss chemistry’s role in sustainable development.

As an introduction however, the programme has included some ‘scene setting’ keynote talks. French chemistry hero and Nobel Laureate Jean-Marie Lehn put chemistry into context as an essential science, explaining that chemistry is the bridge between physics and biology. Meanwhile, in a Women in Chemistry section CNRS Director of Research Helene Langevin-Joliot told us about the life of her grandmother, Marie Curie, and 2009 Nobel Prize winner Ada Yonath has shown what women can do science, using her group and its work as an example.

With so may people here, and with over 60 countries represented, I think that the hope is that this event can help kick start the work of IYC2011. As the main section of the programme – ‘Global trends and perspectives: Chemistry and Sustainable Development’ – begins, I’m looking forward to what is said.

Laura Howes