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Emily A. Carter is Founding Director of Princeton's Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. Last year the GDCh awarded her the August Wilhelm von Hofmann Lecture at the Wissenschaftsforum in Bremen. Nachrichten aus der Chemie asked her why a theoretical chemist is going into the fields of energy and environment.


Nachrichten aus der Chemie: Most chemists see quantum chemistry as being very academic, very remote from real life. What do you think?
Emily Carter: It's actually quite wonderful: today's physical approximations and mathematical algorithms permit us to treat even highly complex samples in completely new ways — ways that afford us very good connections to many real life problems.
Nachrichten: Are you saying, then, that quantum chemistry should move farther into in the field of applications and real life problems?
Carter: Well, until we can solve the Schrödinger-Equation for all properties of interests for all sample sizes and for every element in the periodic table with equal accuracy we will still need to work on techniques. But I strongly believe that this goes hand in hand with applications. In fact, all of my work on methods development is necessary because existing techniques cannot deal with the problems that really interest me.
Nachrichten: Could you give us an example?
Carter: Well, we have been developing the MRCI technique (that's Multi Reference Configuration Interaction) for a long time now. Now we can treat molecules of up to fifty heavy atoms with MRCI and related methods. And why do we do that? We wanted to be able to do highly accurate calculations on large organic molecules. Especially for bio-fuel projects, we have to calculate molecules with some 18 or 19 carbon atoms in them. No other method could treat the thermochemistry correctly, breaking bonds properly, and handle chemical reactivity as well.
Nachrichten: So you see method development as mainly a tool for answering the application questions that interest you?
Carter: Developing methods and applying them to problems that interest us must go hand in hand. One issue that has come up recently is that many people who use commercial quantum chemistry codes do not understand quantum mechanics. This is a problem. As the adage has it: garbage in, garbage out. Sometimes I think the people that buy these codes and run them should have to get a quantum mechanics license first, like you have to have a driver's license to drive.
Nachrichten: But isn't quantum mechanics actually turning into a new kind of analytical technique? After all, many chemists who use NMR spectroscopy are not specialists in magnetic resonance.
Carter: Yes, that is true. That is why there are so many people who would like to see quantum chemistry become a sort of black box, like an NMR machine. Maybe the NMR spectroscopists feel the same way we quantum chemists do!
One should at least try to understand the basis for any tool one uses. We are using techniques that I was not trained in originally — that I am not expert in, I freely admit. You should understand the method first, so you know what your approximations are, what your limitations are, what you can expect to get out of what you are doing, what is trustworthy. And one more point about applications: it is extremely important when using quantum chemistry and looking at applications not to just report numbers. It is important to look deeper into the physics and the chemistry behind the numbers.


<h2>Change of research subject</h2>
Nachrichten: A year ago, you were appointed the Founding Director of Princeton's Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. What moved you to take this unusual step — to change your research subject and devote your career to finding solutions to the energy problem?
Carter:: The turning point for me was the report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007. I didn't read the whole thing — it's enormous. But I read large parts of the executive summary of the science section, the science volume. This material finally convinced me that we humans are altering our climate through the burning of fossil fuels. Of course there was very strong evidence before, but that report, which I recall concluded that there is a 95% likelihood that humans are altering the earth's climate by burning fossil fuels, brought home to me the gravity of our situation. I wanted to hit myself in the head: how could I not have seen this? Instead of enjoying myself with intellectual pursuits and working on very basic physics problems.
Nachrichten: At Princeton you had the good fortune to be four doors down from one of the real pioneers in photovoltaics, Sigurd Wagner.
Carter: Yes, he is an electrical engineer, though a chemist by training. He holds the original patents on the first copper-indium-selenide photovoltaic compounds, which now form the basis for copper-indium-gallium-selenide (CIGS) technology. So I just went to him and said, 'I don't know anything about photovoltaics, but I want to learn.' We ended up teaching a course together, so I learned a lot from him about solar energy conversion. And then I started coming up with some wild ideas about how I could bring my expertise and my perspective in and shake up the field a little. I used him as my sounding board. As an outsider you have to respect the decades of work already done — you don't have to reinvent the wheel every time. I was lucky to have someone right down the hall who knew the whole history of the field. So when I started coming up with ideas that hadn't been tried, with his feedback I felt more confident about going ahead and making proposals.
Nachrichten: How is the funding situation in the US? I confess we Europeans don't think of the US as a very sustainable chemistry country …
Carter: Well I couldn't agree more. We are far behind Germany, for sure. Germany is very forward-looking with regard to solar, for example. It has long been government policy to subsidize that industry and make it thrive. Basically, the US political structure is not conducive to long-term thinking. During the oil crisis of 1973, a lot of money was invested in alternative energy. But as soon as the oil shock waned, the money disappeared. Then the US fell asleep for 30 years and didn't do anything — in fact just ignored the fact that there was a problem.
Nachrichten: Government and public funding is one thing, but what about industry?Is there any awareness in industry of this problem?
Carter: That is changing now, which is really very encouraging. For many years cheap oil meant no one felt the need to do anything. But now — partially because of what is going on in the rest of the world — in Europe and certainly in parts of Asia — industry sees it as being in their interest to pay more attention to sustainable, alternative energies, not just for public relations but in terms of saving money. Major corporations now have sustainability reports and a 'sustainability officer', but this is a very recent phenomenon.
Nachrichten: Do you often cooperate with industrial partners?
Carter: At the moment, no. But I have in the past. And I did consulting for various companies, but at the moment my funding comes from the government. Generally speaking: industrial funding is often just year-to-year, which is not that attractive to me — too hand-to-mouth. If a company or industry were willing to provide funding for the length of a graduate student's studies I would be more interested.


<h2>Gender equality</h2>
Nachrichten:You are unique in the history of the August Wilhelm von Hofmann lectures. Do you know in what way? 
Carter: Well, I guess because I am the first woman.
Nachrichten: Right. There is much discussion in scientific circles about how to achieve real gender equality. What is your thinking about that?
Carter: I think the reason we don't see more equal representation is in large part due to the work-life balance problem. Many women who love chemistry and science feel they have to make a choice once they get their PhDs. Men don't feel they have to make a choice: they just keep going.
Nachrichten: But women feel that …
Carter: Yes, they're afraid they just won't have the energy — not the talent, but the energy — to perform at the highest level in their profession and have a family, too. So many women choose to leave science. Then, too, many female chemists turn to industry because in the US industry has been much more pro-active about enabling women to have a successful career and a family life, too. In academia, the pressure, added to a sort of lack of a sense that one could go home at five, mean that very few women choose that path.
Nachrichten: What could be done to change this?
Carter: One obvious solution — the minimum, in my view — is that every workplace should offer on-site child care. It doesn't have to be free: women are perfectly happy to pay for the service. When I was at UCLA, I took advantage of on-site child care there. I'm convinced I wouldn't be where I am today without that. I knew my son was safe and was being taken care of, so I could turn my mind to my work. Another reason for women stopping their academic careers is that they have issues with the scientific culture. Many women are turned off by the aggressive macho behavior that prevails in modern competitive research. Sociological studies show that women prefer collaborative to hierarchical interaction. In fact that's something I try to emulate and promote in my research group: the idea that every member of my group, from undergraduate to post-doc, deserves respect.
Mit Emily A. Carter sprach Nachrichten-Redakteur Christian Remenyi.

Artikel

“It is important to look deeper”

Emily A. Carter is Founding Director of Princeton's Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment. Last year the GDCh awarded her the August Wilhelm von Hofmann Lecture at the Wissenschaftsforum in Bremen. Nachrichten aus der Chemie asked her why a theoretical chemist is going into the fields o...

Darüber, dass Chemie unser Leben und unsere Zukunft ist, sind sich alle Chemiker einig. Zum Jahr der Chemie gibt es dagegen unterschiedliche Meinungen: Wolfgang Buchberger von der Universität Linz riet im Mai-Leitartikel der Nachrichten, das Jahr der Chemie zu nutzen, um “sich der Öffentlichkeit und den benachbarten Disziplinen in optimaler Weise zu präsentieren”.1 Ferdi Schüth vom Max-Planck-Institut für Kohlenforschung tat dies, indem er bei Zeit online erzählte, wie eng Chemie mit unserem Leben verwoben sei, “ob man nun liebt, sich kleidet oder kocht”.2 Der Schweizer Nobelpreisträger Kurt Wüthrich kritisierte hingegen die defensive Haltung, “aus der heraus man überhaupt auf die Idee komme, ein solches Jahr auszurufen”.3


<h2>100 Jahre und Marie Curie</h2>
Als Anlass für das IJC gerade im Jahr 2011 wählten die Vereinten Nationen ein nun 101 Jahre zurückliegendes Ereignis: Marie Curie erhielt im Jahr 1911 als erste Frau den Chemienobelpreis. Viele, die beim IJC mitmachten, fanden einen eigenen Grund zum Feiern:
Die sächsische Bildungsgesellschaft für Umweltschutz und Chemieberufe Dresden ging “in den Fußstapfen von Marie Curie” ins IJC und nahm dazu ein neues Verfahrenstechnikum in Betrieb.
Ende Mai ließ das Jungchemikerforum der GDCh von Kiel bis Konstanz und von Frankfurt bis Leipzig die Laune etlicher Zuschauer und grüne Ballons steigen: Im IJC gab es Ballonwettbewerbe für Kinder, Jugendliche und alle jung Gebliebenen.4
Der Verband der Chemischen Industrie (VCI) erklärte den seit dem Jahr 1990 jährlich stattfindenden Tag der offenen Tür zu einem Höhepunkt im IJC. Mehr als 420 000 Menschen besuchten 248 Unternehmen und 40 Hochschulen.
BASF feierte in Sao Paulo “zugleich mit dem IJC 100 Jahre BASF in Brasilien”.
Die Deutsche Arbeitsschutzausstellung in Dortmund startete eine Nano-Ausstellung und das Mitmachprogramm für Grundschulkinder “Was stinkt denn da?”.
Die Ausstellung “T-Shirts, Tüten und Tenside” war erstmals im Rahmen des GDCh-Wissenschaftsforums Chemie in Bremen zu sehen. Die Schau der GDCh, der Deutschen Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU), der Dechema und des VCI gastiert nun seit November am DBU-Standort Osnabrück. Die interaktiven Experimente vermitteln Zusammenhänge zwischen alltäglichen Produkten und chemischen Verfahren. Dieses Konzept bezeichnete das Nationalkomitee der Vereinten Nationen (UN) als “Dekadeprojekt 2012/2013” im Rahmen der UN-Weltdekade “Bildung für nachhaltige Entwicklung”.


<h2>Briefmarken und andere Kunst</h2>
Viele Länder feierten das Jahr der Chemie, indem sie eine Briefmarke dazu herausgaben. Manche wie Deutschland und die USA haben das in der Kürze der Zeit nicht geschafft. Wer trotzdem eine IJC-Briefmarke nutzen möchte, dem hilft der Briefmarkendesigner. Mit diesem Internetprogramm lassen sich Briefmarken individuell gestalten.5,6 Der kanadische Chemiker und Philatelist Richard Gratton zeigte in Quebec seine Briefmarkensammlung zum Leben von Marie Curie. Zudem erklärte er, wie die Briefmarken sich von Fälschungen unterscheiden lassen. Seinen Vortrag gibt es als PDF-Datei.7
Der Fonds der Chemischen Industrie suchte zum IJC kreative Farbdesigner: Schüler sollten im Wettbewerb “H2O — mach's bunt” pH-Indikatoren in Pflanzen finden. Die Kinder prüften, wie Zitronensaft die Farbe von Tee und wie Essig die von Rotkohlsaft ändert. Gewonnen haben in der Altersstufe 8 bis 12 Jahre die Klasse 5a der Mittelschule “Flöha-Plaue” in Flöha bei Chemnitz und in der Altersstufe ab 13 Jahre die Klasse 9R2 der Johannes-Vincke Schule in Belm bei Osnabrück. Die Schüler der 5. Klasse experimentierten mit Rhododendronsaft und Akelei, die der 9. Klasse erstellten unter anderem eine Eichreihe zur pH-Wert-Bestimmung mit Malventee.
In Philadelphia zeigte eine Ausstellung zum Internationalen Jahr der Chemie 15 neue Arbeiten von sieben Künstlern für das im Jahr 2007 begonnene Periodensystem der Elemente. Jedes Kunstwerk repräsentiert dabei ein Element. Die Grafikerin Jennifer Schmitt trägt die Arbeiten zusammen.
“Radiance: The Passion of Marie Curie” ist der Name eines Theaterstücks vom US-amerikanischen Schauspieler, Drehbuchautor und Regisseur Alan Alda. Die Premiere des Werks über Curies Leben, ihre Arbeit und ihre Liebe fand im November in Los Angeles anlässlich des IJC statt.
Im Dezember wählte das online-Maganzin Chemistry Views aus vier Einsendungen das beste Dreiminutenvideo zu “Chemistry in Every day Life”. Die Siegerin Veronique de Halleux aus Belgien zeigte mit einer Zeichentrickfigur, wie ein Chemiker mit neuen Materialien Leben rettet.8
Die Autorin Maren Bulmahn ist Redakteurin der Nachrichten aus der Chemie.


Das Internationale Jahr der Chemie 2011 und die Germaniumentdeckung im Jahr 1885
Im September 1885 fand der Freiberger Chemieprofessor Clemens Winkler (1838—1904) das Germanium im Silbergermaniumsulfid Ag8GeS6. Dieses stammte aus 459 Metern Teufe im Westfeld der Grube Himmelsfürst im Freiberger Revier. Zum 125-jährigen Jubiläum der Entdeckung gab es im Internationalen Jahr der Chemie eine Silbermedaille. Die Vorderseite (Abbildung) teilen sich Winkler und Kristallformen des Argyrodits: oben links die monokristalline Form, weiter unten mögliche Zwillings- und Drillingsverwachsungen. Die Medaillenrückseite zeigt das Huthaus (Zechenhaus) der Grube Himmelsfürst, in dem die Bergleute beteten und ihre Werkzeuge lagerten.
Die Auflage umfasst 200 Medaillen. Die Initiative dazu kam von Hans Friebe, Freiberg und von Lothar Schumacher, Brand-Erbisdorf, der auch den Entwurf gestaltete.
<a href="mailto:friebe-freiberg@t-online.de">friebe-freiberg@t-online.de</a>



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1 


<source>Nachr. Chem., 
2011, 
59, 
501.

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2 

<ext-link ext-link-type="uri"><a href="https://www.zeit.de/2011/07/Forscher-Chemie" target="_blank">www.zeit.de/2011/07/Forscher-Chemie</a></ext-link>.
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3 

 
<source>Chem. Rep. AT 
(2011), 
6, 
5.
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4 

<ext-link ext-link-type="uri"><a href="https://www.jungchemikerforum.de/jungchemikerforum.php?seite=Ballonwettbewerb" target="_blank">www.jungchemikerforum.de/jungchemikerforum.php?seite=Ballonwettbewerb</a></ext-link>.
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5 

<ext-link ext-link-type="uri"><a href="http://photo.stamps.com" target="_blank">http://photo.stamps.com</a></ext-link>.
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6 

<ext-link ext-link-type="uri"><a href="https://www.post-individuell.de" target="_blank">www.post-individuell.de</a></ext-link>.
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7 

<a href="mailto:grattonrich54@hotmail.com">grattonrich54@hotmail.com</a>.
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8 

<ext-link ext-link-type="uri"><a href="https://www.chemistryviews.org/details/video/1357527/Organic_Materials_Could_Save_Your_Life__ChemistryViews_org_IYC_Video_Competition.html" target="_blank">www.chemistryviews.org/details/video/1357527/Organic_Materials_Could_Save_Your_Life__ChemistryViews_org_IYC_Video_Competition.html</a></ext-link>.
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“It is important to look deeper”

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