By Elizabeth Quill
In 1776, the founding fathers of the United States of America declared their commitment to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—but lesser known is their passion for the pursuit of science. Thomas Jefferson called it his “supreme delight.” Benjamin Franklin’s contribution to science far exceeded that of his famous kite experiment. Another founding Benjamin and signer of the Declaration of Independence, Benjamin Rush, wrote what is widely considered to be America’s first chemistry textbook.
So it’s perhaps unsurprising that in the 250 years following its birth, the US grew into one of the world’s scientific powerhouses, including in chemistry. Across various measures of chemistry prowess—number of chemists, volume of high-quality research publications, and contributions of chemistry to the national economy, to name a few—the US has long stood as a global leader.
What might not have been foreseen, though, is how far chemistry would come to reach into seemingly disparate research spheres, as well as nearly every aspect of American life. Carsten Reinhardt, a historian at the Institute for Studies of Science of Bielefeld University in Germany, describes the wide reach that emerged mainly in the US during the second half of the 20th century as a “new kind of chemistry.” Chemistry became “a toolbox for many other scientific and engineering disciplines.”
The rise of US chemistry wasn’t predestined. In examining various historical, cultural, and economic forces, C&EN identified six pivotal shifts that made the US chemical enterprise what it is today…
…The US has had an important part in addressing the global climate crisis, says Laura Gagliardi, a chemist at the University of Chicago, both by supporting basic research and by bringing chemists and engineers together with policymakers in the push for clean energy. “Chemists are at the center of this revolution, and we have to keep playing a role,” she says….