1. What made you want to be a chemist?

A high school teacher is really what got me interested in chemistry.

2. If you weren’t a chemist and could do any other job, what would it be – and why?

Professional baseball player – yes, I had aspirations in my youth to play big-time ball.

3. How can chemists best contribute to the world at large?

A good one – chemists do contribute already to the well being of the world at large, but more can and will be done to perform chemistry in an environmentally friendlier fashion.

4. Which historical figure would you most like to have dinner with – and why?

I’ve always thought Thomas Jefferson might make a good dinner guest.

5. When was the last time you did an experiment in the lab – and what was it?

About a year ago – did a large-scale prep of a compound we use in the lab (500g or so), and the reaction worked well. Mostly my students don’t like to see me in the lab – don’t know why…

6. If exiled on a desert island, what one book and one CD would you take with you?

Book: Just one would be tough – love the classics – Catcher in the Rye would be a good one…

On a desert island? Seems like a good place for Bob Marley’s Legend album – a classic.

Steve Nolan is in the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ) in Tarragona, Spain and works on organometallic chemistry and homogeneous catalysis.