Chemistry 4.0

In 1962, Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc., an American animation studio, launched The Jetsons, a children’s cartoon, depicting family life 100 years in the future. Slightly more than halfway to 2062, we have neither flying cars nor orbital cities, and George Jetson’s full-time engineering job of one hour per day, two days per week – the rest being done by robots – is not yet reality, even if we debate seriously Industrie 4.0 and the end of Labor. The hits and misses of Hanna-Barbera’s vision of the future give pause, however, to reflect on the utility of the annual practice of naming trends. This issue of Nachrichten der Chemie is devoted to new themes, so it is arguably worthwhile to reflect on the pros and cons of the exercise.

First: What is the proper role for the setting of scientific themes? Who sets them?

Depth, complexity, and quality control in research become possible within a community built around a theme (or discipline, when the theme persists long enough.) It is perhaps facile to claim that the community sets the themes collectively, but one cannot escape the reality that a small fraction of the community possesses the vision, background, or even the per

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