"Chemists usually write about their chemical careers in terms of the different areas and the discrete projects in those areas on which they have worked. Essentially all my chemical investigations, however, are in only one area, and I tend to view my research not with respect to projects, but with respect to where I’ve been driven by two passions which I acquired in graduate school: I am passionate about the Periodic Table (and selenium, titanium and osmium are absolutely thrilling), and I am passionate about catalysis. What the ocean was to the child, the Periodic Table is to the chemist; new catalytic reactivity is, of course, my personal coelacanth."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
People from PhiladelphiaNobel laureates in ChemistryNobel laureates from the United StatesHarvard University alumniChemists from the United States
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Nobel lecture, 2001
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Karl_Barry_Sharpless
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Karl Barry Sharpless
4 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Karl Barry Sharpless →
Related Quotes
"...when I started doing chemistry, I did it the way I fished – for the excitement, the discovery, the adventure, for …"
"We have a word game in English called "Twenty questions." To play Twenty Questions, one player imagines some object, …"
"The discipline, nonetheless, is exacting: everything that can be observed should be observed, even if it is only reca…"
"We shall never understand the natural environment until we see it not as just so much air, water, and real estate, bu…"
"Comin' in on a wing and a pray'r Comin' in on a wing and a pray'r Tho' there's one motor gone, We can still carry on,…"
"Rule 1 of cryptanalysis: check for plaintext."
"Never underestimate the attention, risk, money, and time that an opponent will put into reading traffic."
"It is easy to run a secure computer system. You merely have to disconnect all dial-up connections and permit only dir…"
"Our forefathers were pioneers. So are we."
"And who is any of us, that without starvation he can go through the kingdoms of starvation?"