Perspectives: Championing chemistry

Abstract

An editorial in Nature Chemistry in 2010 asked chemists a simple question: “Where are the champions?” The opinion piece highlighted long-held misconceptions and negative perceptions about chemistry and observed that “chemistry lacks the easily articulated grand challenges associated with physics or biology, and it generally gets a rough ride in the mainstream media. All the more reason that it needs effective advocates and champions.” The International Year of Chemistry held the following year does not appear to have achieved the hoped-for change in chemistry’s standing in the public’s eye, to have raised the profile of the subject, or, with a few exceptions, to have inspired champions of chemistry to step forward. Moreover, a Royal Society of Chemistry study in 2015 revealed that chemists’ image of how society views the subject was worse than the reality. These results seem to us indicative of a profession afflicted with low self-esteem rather than