Chemist

A chemist (from Greek chēm(ía) alchemy; replacing chymist from Medieval Latin alchemist) is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms. Chemists carefully measure substance proportions, chemical reaction rates, and other chemical properties. In Commonwealth English, pharmacists are often called chemists.

Chemists use their knowledge to learn the composition and properties of unfamiliar substances, as well as to reproduce and synthesize large quantities of useful naturally occurring substances and create new artificial substances and useful processes. Chemists may specialize in any number of subdisciplines of chemistry. Materials scientists and metallurgists share much of the same education and skills with chemists. The work of chemists is often related to the work of chemical engineers, who are primarily concerned with the proper design, construction and evaluation of the most cost-effective large-scale chemical plants and work closely with industrial chemists on the development of new processes and methods for the commercial-scale manufacture of chemicals and related products.

History of chemistry

Main article: Chemistry:History of chemistry

German chemist Georgius Agricola (1494–1555) was the first to drop the Arabic definite article al-, exclusively writing chymia and chymista in describing activity that we today would characterize as chemical or alchemical.

Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev, author of the first modern periodic table of elements

Antoine Lavoisier (1743–94) is considered the "Father of Modern Chemistry".

The roots of chemistry can be traced to the phenomenon of burning. Fire was a mystical force that transformed one substance into another and thus was of primary interest to mankind. It was fire that led to the discovery of iron and glasses. After gold was discovered and became a precious metal, many people were interested to find a method that could convert other substances into gold. This led to the protoscience called alchemy.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024} from the Neo-Latin noun chimista, an abbreviation of alchimista (alchemist). Alchemists discovered many chemical processes that led to the development of modern chemistry. Chemistry as we know it today, was invented by Antoine Lavoisier with his law of conservation of mass in 1783. The discoveries of the chemical elements has a long history culminating in the creation of the periodic table by Dmitri Mendeleev. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry created in 1901 gives an excellent overview of chemical discovery since the start of the 20th century.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024} At the Washington Academy of Sciences during World War I, it was said that the side with the best chemists would win the war.

Education

Formal education

Jobs for chemists generally require at least a bachelor's degree in chemistry, which takes four years. However, many positions, especially those in research, require a Master of Science or a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD.). Most undergraduate programs emphasize mathematics and physics as well as chemistry, partly because chemistry is also known as "the central science", thus chemists ought to have a well-rounded knowledge about science. At the Master's level and higher, students tend to specialize in a particular field. Fields of specialization include biochemistry, nuclear chemistry, organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, polymer chemistry, analytical chemistry, physical chemistry, theoretical chemistry, quantum chemistry, environmental chemistry, and thermochemistry. Postdoctoral experience may be required for certain positions.{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}

Training

In addition to all the training usually given to chemical technologists in their respective degree (or one given via an associate degree), a chemist is also trained to understand more details related to chemical phenomena so that the chemist can be capable of more planning on the steps to achieve a distinct goal via a chemistry-related endeavor. The higher the competency level achieved in the field of chemistry (as assessed via a combination of education, experience and personal achievements), the higher the responsibility given to that chemist and the more complicated the task might be. Chemistry, as a field, has so many applications that different tasks and objectives can be given to workers or scientists with these different levels of education or experience. The specific title of each job varies from position to position, depending on factors such as the kind of industry, the routine level of the task, the current needs of a particular enterprise, the size of the enterprise or hiring firm, the philosophy and management principles of the hiring firm, the visibility of the competency and individual achievements of the one seeking employment, economic factors such as recession or economic depression, among other factors, so this makes it difficult to categorize the exact roles of these chemistry-related workers as standard for that given level of education. Because of these factors affecting exact job titles with distinct responsibilities, some chemists might begin doing technician tasks while other chemists might begin doing more complicated tasks than those of a technician, such as tasks that also involve formal applied research, management, or supervision included within the responsibilities of that same job title. The level of supervision given to that chemist also varies in a similar manner, with factors similar to those that affect the tasks demanded for a particular chemist.

A chemist in the lab of the Warsaw University of Technology in 2011

Skills

Skills that a chemist may need on the job include:

• Knowledge of chemistry
• Familiarity with product development
• Using scientific rules, strategies, or concepts to solve problems
• Putting together small parts using hands and fingers with dexterity

Employment

Analytical chemists testing samples of explosives at Royal Naval Cordite Factory, Holton Heath during World War II

Most chemists begin their lives in research laboratories. Many chemists continue working at universities. Other chemists may start companies, teach at high schools or colleges, take samples outside (as environmental chemists), or work in medical examiner offices or police departments (as forensic chemists).

Some software that chemists may find themselves using include:

• ChemSW Buffer Maker
• LabTrack Electronic Lab Notebook
• Agilent ChemStation
• Waters Empower Chromatography Data Software
• Microsoft Excel

Increasingly, chemists may also find themselves using artificial intelligence, such as for drug discovery.

Subdisciplines

• Analytical chemistry is the analysis of material samples to gain an understanding of their chemical composition and structure. Analytical chemistry incorporates standardized experimental methods in chemistry. These methods may be used in all subdisciplines of chemistry, excluding purely theoretical chemistry.
• Biochemistry is the study of the chemicals, chemical reactions and chemical interactions that take place in living organisms. Biochemistry and organic chemistry are closely related, for example, in medicinal chemistry.

A chemist prepares a new fuel cell for testing at Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, Illinois.

A chemist pours from a round-bottom flask at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California.

• Inorganic chemistry is the study of the properties and reactions of inorganic compounds. The distinction between organic and inorganic disciplines is not absolute and there is much overlap, most importantly in the sub-discipline of organometallic chemistry. The Inorganic chemistry is also the study of atomic and molecular structure and bonding.
• Medicinal chemistry is the science involved with designing, synthesizing and developing pharmaceutical drugs. Medicinal chemistry involves the identification, synthesis and development of new chemical entities suitable for therapeutic use. It also includes the study of existing drugs, their biological properties, and their quantitative structure-activity relationships.
• Organic chemistry is the study of the structure, properties, composition, mechanisms, and chemical reaction of carbon compounds.
• Physical chemistry is the study of the physical fundamental basis of chemical systems and processes. In particular, the energetics and dynamics of such systems and processes are of interest to physical chemists. Important areas of study include chemical thermodynamics, chemical kinetics, electrochemistry, quantum chemistry, statistical mechanics, and spectroscopy. Physical chemistry has a large overlap with theoretical chemistry and molecular physics. Physical chemistry involves the use of calculus in deriving equations.
• Theoretical chemistry is the study of chemistry via theoretical reasoning (usually within mathematics or physics). In particular, the application of quantum mechanics to chemistry is called quantum chemistry. Since the end of the Second World War, the development of computers has allowed a systematic development of computational chemistry, which is the art of developing and applying computer programs for solving chemical problems. Theoretical chemistry has large overlap with condensed matter physics and molecular physics. See reductionism.

Professional societies

Chemists may belong to professional societies specifically for professionals and researchers within the field of chemistry, such as the Royal Society of Chemistry in the United Kingdom, the American Chemical Society (ACS) in the United States, or the Institution of Chemists in India.

Ethics

The "Global Chemists' Code of Ethics" suggests several ethical principles that all chemists should follow:

• Promoting the general public's appreciation of chemistry
• The importance of sustainability and protecting the environment
• The importance of scientific research and publications
• Respecting safety, such as by using proper personal protective equipment
• Respecting chemical security throughout the chemical supply chain, especially for labs and industrial facilities

This code of ethics was codified in a 2016 conference held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, run by the American Chemical Society. The points listed are inspired by the 2015 Hague Ethical Guidelines.

Honors and awards

Main article: Biography:List of Nobel laureates in Chemistry

The highest honor awarded to chemists is the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, awarded since 1901, by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

See also

• List of chemistry topics
• List of chemists

External links

• American Chemical Society
• Chemical Abstracts Service indexes and abstracts the world's chemistry-related literature and patents
• Chemists and Materials Scientists from the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Outlook Handbook
• Royal Society of Chemistry
• History of Chemistry links for chemists
• Luminaries of the Chemical Sciences accomplishments, biography, and publications from 44 of the most influential chemists
• Selected Classic Papers from the History of Chemistry
• Links for Chemists guide to web sites related to chemistry
• ChemistryViews.org