Public lecture on the beauty and purpose of curiosity-driven research
A leading international expert in molecular chemistry will deliver the 29th Job lecture at 果酱视频 University.
On April 29, Dr. Helmut Schwarz, a professor of chemistry at the Berlin University of Technology and president of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation will present The Magic of Molecular Soccer: Beauty and Purpose of Curiosity-driven Basic Research.
Dr. Schwarz considers his topic from the perspective of scientists who wondered if fullerene cavities can be packed with something, and then went ahead and did just that.
鈥淚f chemists or physicists had been asked in the early 1990s whether atoms could be introduced into fullerene cavities, for example, by collision experiments, the answer would have been a resounding 鈥榥o鈥 as these experiments involve highly excited transients that decay within picoseconds,鈥 said Dr. Schwarz.
鈥淭oday, after more than 20 years of fullerene chemistry, this can be carried out by elaborate chemical surgery. In a breathtaking experiment, we succeeded in the inclusion of one helium atom (and later, two atoms) in the soccer ball-shaped molecule without bursting the collision complex.鈥
Further well-designed experiments were required to convince even the hard skeptics that the interpretation of these results, which contradicted standard textbook chemistry and physics, was correct. Dr. Schwarz says these experiments, complemented by theoretical work, and further considerations eventually lead to the central question 鈥極f what use is basic research?鈥
He鈥檒l attempt to answer that question during the lecture, which begins at 7 p.m. in the Bruneau Centre for Research Innovation (IIC-2001) on the St. John鈥檚 Campus.
This year, in addition to the public lecture, two research lectures will take place with Dr. Schwarz. On Tuesday, Apr. 30 he will deliver Oxidative Dehydrosulfurization and Selective Bond-Activation by 鈥淩oll-over鈥 Cyclometalated Pt(II) Complexes: Theory and Experiment in Concert, at 10 a.m. in C-2004.
Then at 2 p.m. he will present Chemistry with Methane: Concepts Rather than Recipes in A-1043. The Department of Chemistry鈥檚 annual student awards reception will follow this event.