Roald Hoffmann on the futility of classifying chemists

Roald Hoffmann has an editorial (open access!) in Angewandte Chemie in which he (mostly) gently scolds those who have criticized many of the last decade's Nobel Prizes as being "insufficiently chemical". I agree with him that any kind of preconceived expectations about who should get the Nobel Prize tries to fit chemistry into a straitjacket and denies scientists who may not have been trained in traditional chemistry departments the right to call themselves chemists.

As I have written elsewhere, it's partly the changing nature of what's considered important in chemical research that has shaped the face of the chemistry Nobel Prize since it was first awarded. With biology being the most exciting science of the twenty-first century and chemistry playing a foundational role in its progress, it is inevitable that more biologists are going to get chemistry prizes. And for those who may be uncomfortable with the prize awarded to biology-oriented research in the last decade, Hoffmann's observation that biology has been recognized much less over the last thirty years may provide some solace.

But any such qualms are beside the point. As Hoffmann says, the variety of chemistry Nobels given out over the years simply demonstrates the sheer reach of chemistry into multiple fields of biology, physics and even engineering. As we enter the second decade of the new century there's little doubt that fields traditionally associated with physics or engineering may increasingly be recognized by all kinds of chemistry prizes.

"Ubiquitin and the ribosome, fluorescent proteins and ion channels are as fundamentally chemical as metal surfaces, enantioselective catalysts, olefin metathesis, or, just to name some fields squarely in our profession that should be (or should have been) recognized, laser chemistry, metal–metal multiple bonding, bioinorganic chemistry, oral contraception, and green or sustainable chemistry."

And ultimately he emphasizes something that we should all constantly remind each other. It's a prize, awarded by human beings. It's an honor all right, but it does very little to highlight the objective value of the research which is usually evident far before the actual recognition. The fact that we were informally nominating Robert Grubbs or Roger Tsien years before they received the prizes makes it clear that no prize was really going to change our perception of how important their work was. Today we look at Tsien's research on green fluorescent protein with the same joyful interest that we did ten years ago.

Hoffmann sees the principal function of the Nobel Prize as providing an incentive for young students and researchers from scientifically underprivileged countries, and he cites the examples of Kenichi Fukui and Ahmed Zewail inspiring their fellow countrymen. The Nobel Prize certainly serves this function, but I have always been a little wary of pitching the benefits of scientific research by citing any kind of prize. The fact is that most people who do interesting research will never win the Nobel Prize and this does nothing to undervalue the importance of their work. So even from a strictly statistical standpoint, it would continue to be much more fruitful to point out the real benefits of science to young people- as a means of understanding the world and having fun while you are at it. Prizes may or may not follow.

Hat tip: Excimer

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