Scientific Geneaology

This is probably only really interesting to me. So here it is anyway. One of the fun things about being a scientist is trying to find out who you are related to. At some point, you’re probably related to someone famous.

My scientific father (Ph.D. advisor) was Charlie Parmenter, at Indiana University. Charlie’s research interests while I was in the group were in studying molecular interactions and energy flow using molecular beams and single vibronic level spectroscopy.

My scientific grandfather was Charlie’s Ph.D. advisor – W.A. Noyes, Jr. at the University of Rochester. Noyes was known as the “father of modern photochemistry”.

That means my scientific grandfather was Henry Le Chatlier, famous in Gen Chem for “Le Chatelier’s Principle. So, there you go!

I should also say that my biological father was a chemist, as was my maternal grandfather. Guess it’s in the blood.!

The Beauty of Science

Please read “Physics is Beauty“, by Lindsay LeBlanc.  I think this is how most scientists feel (certainly it is how I feel):

Physics is worth knowing because it is beautiful. It is the hidden secret of the scientist. We may claim to be researching some topic or other because it is “useful to society” or it will revolutionize some technology but, more often than not, we are simply fascinated by some small detail about how the world works and we can’t stop thinking about it until we understand it better. We are constantly astounded by the way a few basic principles work together to explain so many different things, and sit in wonder and awe at the beauty of the world. Like an artist, I want to share this beauty with others. I want them to know what it is to see through my eyes.

Formation of HCl – One Water at a Time

At some point, all students who take General Chemistry learn that acids are species that donate protons in water. For example, hydrochloric acid is formed when hydrogen chloride gas is dissolved in water:

Formation of the hydronium ion (H₃O⁺) results in a decrease of the pH of the solution. Yeah, if you’ve had General Chemistry, you definitely know that. But did you know that until recently, we didn’t know how many water molecules it took to make this happen?