| Q: | What first interested you in the field of Chemistry? |
| A: | I think I was influenced by one of my teachers. I had her for Junior Maths and she more or less suggested that I might do Chemistry and that’s what I took! |
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| Q: | What is the best memory you have of Chemistry in secondary school? |
| A: | Well, my best memory of Chemistry isn’t actually of Chemistry itself in secondary school. It is the dynamic way that she taught it and her interest in it. |
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| Q: | And your worst memory? |
| A: | My worse memory is of preparing Hydrogen where I lit it and it blew up. Another memory I have is of getting burned with a mixture of hydrochloric acid and sulphuric acid through carelessness and ignorance. |
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| Q: | What is your favourite field/branch of chemistry? |
| A: | My favourite field is organic chemistry now, mainly because most of my experience has been in organic chemistry and because it is actually the chemistry of life. |
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| Q: | What, in you’re opinion, is the most important discovery made in organic chemistry? |
| A: | Well, I suppose you’d have to combine it with the discoveries in biology and I think the actual structure of DNA and the combining qualities of all the groups there. Of course, if you understand all the chemistry in the body then you would be fairly well equipped for life. |
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| Q: | What’s your absolute favourite organic chemistry experiment? |
| A: | I suppose I remember two the most. One was when we were given monosodium glutamate and some of us made all different types of soups like oxtail and mixed vegetable and everything like that. We were equipped with all the different tastes from just the one chemical. The other one is my favourite organic chemistry experiment. Either making esters or making soaps. I actually like making soaps and it might be something to do with quality of smell rather than chemistry. |
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| Q: | Some people may argue that organic chemistry is too difficult to understand and has little relevance to ordinary life. How would you respond to this? |
| A: | First of all, I wouldn’t mind meeting these people face to face because organic chemistry is life. The chemistry of carbon is the chemistry of life, and I think even down to what brand of toothpaste you’re going to buy or hair cleanser you’re going to use or face cleanser or toner or whether you buy Impulse (a body spray) or whether you don’t buy Impulse. Whether you buy Daz (a detergent) or don’t buy Daz. Every foodstuff you are going to consume, everything is influenced by this chemistry and I think a small smattering of it should be given to everybody as organic chemistry is life. |
