Editor
From the Editors

The Sceptical Chymist | Taking solace in synthesis?

Published in Chemistry
Go to the profile of Stephen Davey
Stephen Davey
Chief Editor, Nature Reviews Chemistry, Springer Nature
Like

Share this post

Choose a social network to share with, or copy the URL to share elsewhere

Share with...

...or copy the link

This is a representation of how your post may appear on social media. The actual post will vary between social networks

Reading my newspaper on the way to work this morning, I was surprised to discover that Jonny Wilkinson – England rugby hero for those that don’t know – likes a bit of quantum physics. Apparently, he was always full of self-doubt until he discovered Schrödinger’s cat!

I subscribe to the theory that if you claim to fully understand quantum physics then you’ve missed the point, so quite what he means by this you’ll have to find out in his new book, but it set me to thinking: does anyone take solace in chemistry? Personally, I like a good total synthesis, but it’s more likely to make me wonder if I could ever have come up with that particularly clever rearrangement or new methodology, than to solve any thoughts of inadequacy.

Do you have a favourite piece of chemistry to think about when you need a bit of reassurance? How about some chemical reaction dynamics (Gav?), or perhaps you enjoy a good crystallography table (Neil?). We’d love to hear from you.

Steve

Stephen Davey (Associate Editor, Nature Chemistry)

Go to the profile of Stephen Davey
Stephen Davey (He/Him)
Chief Editor, Nature Reviews Chemistry, Springer Nature

Stephen holds a PhD in chemistry from the University of Sheffield where he conducted research on asymmetric nucleophilic catalysis. He then moved to Groningen, Netherlands for postdoctoral research on the synthesis and applications of light-driven molecular motors. He has been a chemistry editor for 16 years. He began his editorial career with the Royal Society of Chemistry (working on the journals Lab on a Chip and the Journal of Environmental Monitoring). In 2008 he joined the launch team of Nature Chemistry and later that year moved to Boston, USA where he stayed until the end of 2015. Shortly after returning to London he moved jobs to become Chief Editor for Nature Reviews Chemistry, which launched in 2017.

Please sign in or register for FREE

If you are a registered user on Research Communities by Springer Nature, please sign in

Sign In Register

Cookies

We use cookies to ensure the functionality of our website, to personalize content and advertising, to provide social media features, and to analyze our traffic. If you allow us to do so, we also inform our social media, advertising and analysis partners about your use of our website. You can decide for yourself which categories you want to deny or allow. Please note that based on your settings not all functionalities of the site are available.

Further information can be found in our privacy policy.

Cookie Control

Customise your preferences for any tracking technology

The following allows you to customize your consent preferences for any tracking technology used to help us achieve the features and activities described below. To learn more about how these trackers help us and how they work, refer to the cookie policy. You may review and change your preferences at any time.

See the full cookie policy See the full privacy policy
More information

These trackers are used for activities that are strictly necessary to operate or deliver the service you requested from us and, therefore, do not require you to consent.

More information

These trackers help us to deliver personalized marketing content and to operate, serve and track ads.

More information

These trackers help us to deliver personalized marketing content to you based on your behaviour and to operate, serve and track social advertising.

More information

These trackers help us to measure traffic and analyze your behaviour with the goal of improving our service.

More information

These trackers help us to provide a personalized user experience by improving the quality of your preference management options, and by enabling the interaction with external networks and platforms.