2 June
CHEMIST DAY
On 2 June 2024, Chemist Day is celebrated. It is a movable holiday that falls each year on the first Sunday of June. On this occasion, we wish all chemists and passionate chemists the very best!
For chemistry, you have to feel the chemistry. The decision to choose this path must evoke a whole range of reactions: interest, delight, surprise…. We asked our chemists why they chose this particular field of science.
„Save the date” is a series of articles that have been written to celebrate various unusual holidays. The authors of the presented materials are students, doctoral students and employees of the Faculty of Science and Technology of the University of Silesia.
Alexander Lowe, PhD in chemistry, writes about how to light a powerful bonfire of love for chemistry and how to make sure the embers never die out. How to work in the most internationalised research group at the University. And about how relationships with other people can make life more…
PhD ALEXANDER LOWE
Institute of Chemistry
Show publications
Thermodynamics in Action
Thermodynamics application team
Why did I become a chemist?
To be honest, as a child, I wanted to drive locomotives down the European and North American railways. As I grew older, I wanted to study to become a dentist. Both are ideal jobs for the child of immigrant parents in a new country, with the freedom to choose what I wanted to be. When I entered the first year of my undergraduate, I began my studies in biochemistry so that I could apply to dental school in Canada. This was the original plan, but no matter your plan, something always shows up that asks you to make a choice. I want to use the bonfire as a metaphor since it represents many exciting parts of chemistry that I am most fascinated by: light, heat, change, and life.
Without someone to tend to it, a bonfire will not thrive. Add some extra ingredients to it, and you can get some dazzling colors. During my summer holidays in Canada, a piece of copper pipe with a piece of garden hose would be added to the fire to make it burn a magical mixture of colors. The chemistry of the mixture of copper burning with the chloride in the garden hose created these colors through oxidation and reduction reactions, as well as the combustion reaction between the large carbohydrate molecules that burn when exposed to heat and oxygen. With heat from the fire, water would turn to steam as the damp wood was burned in the hot fire. The heat from the fire kept us warm in the night and gave us a creeping sensation as our clothes warmed up and expanded. Run out of fuel, and the fire consumes itself, turning to ash (the leftover material from combustion) or limiting precious oxygen to the flame, and the combustion process changes, leaving black char (carbon or coke) in the fire pit. We must take care to tend to our own bonfire and heed the advice of others when just beginning.
I switched to chemistry under the influence of enthusiastic chemistry teachers at Memorial University of Newfoundland, who caught my interest in physical chemistry, biochemistry, and photochemistry. These teachers were important as they helped guide me through my undergraduate studies and helped me make the choice to change my career goals and pursue a desire to practice chemistry. Since then, I have been working back and forth between exciting topics in physical chemistry and biochemistry during my master’s degree (University of Guelph) and physical chemistry and chemical engineering during my doctoral degree (Universté Clermont Auvergne). I became a chemist to work on the interface between chemistry and the rest of the chemical disciplines as I became enamored with the following question. Why do molecules behave in a certain way, and how does this lead to life and the other strange structures around us?
Why work in a university? In my mind, university is a place to build a bonfire for students so that they may find what interests them. The professor, researcher, or instructor, as you choose, are professional students who have never left that wonder behind them, seeking answers not yet found in textbooks or journal articles. Our experience gives us the wisdom to act as mentors to future students, to help them avoid making future mistakes, and to provide them the forum to question conventional practice. Innovation is not made by repetition but by listening to those with the time to talk about the topic they find interesting and to point them in the right direction. As a teacher, I believe we should say more often, “I don’t know the answer to that one,” “Maybe someone else can help you better than I,” or “Maybe you can help me find the answer?”. Who knows, maybe our students can help someone else in the future. Perhaps they will build another bonfire?
The Silesian Beskids | Fot. private archive
Why did I choose the University of Silesia?
When I came to the University of Silesia as a post-doc and I vaguely knew Mirosław Chorążewski. The interview was short and direct and the project had clear objectives and plan already made for success. From that point was have worked together he has helped me develop both as a person and as a scientist. I have always had the opportunity to work and learn from the international community either from India, China and France, as well as many of my Canadian instructors.
Mirek, has had from similar teachers but they were from other countries like Czech Republic, Russia and France uniquely. The ability to build an international group is a challenge, but one well suited to him. The group benefits from a diverse scientific background and ability to teach other new concepts. With this as a background the group helps one other develop and we can move into new topics and expand to new ideas. In this way, we have become the most international research group at the university.