Role of catalysis in achieving environmentally sustainable growth in the 21st century

Abstract

“The physicist does not discover, he creates his universe.” So proclaimed physicist Henry Margenau in an articled entitled ‘Metaphysical Elements in Physics,’ published in 1941 in Reviews of Modern Physics. In much the same spirit, we catalytic scientists have the opportunity to create the future, rather than let it happen. To do so, it might be helpful for us to envision what could be, in both the near and longer term. History teaches that the future need not be just a natural extension of the present. For example, the automobile was not a simple extension of the horse and buggy, any more than polyethylene was a simple extension of phenolic plastics such as Bakelite. Similarly, the use of zeolites in catalytic cracking did not follow directly from the use of amorphous silica-alumina catalysts, nor did the Oxirane Process for propylene oxide follow from epichlorohydrin technology. These inventions, as many of those that have brought about significant changes, represent discontinuities in the way things were done at the time. But they were not completely serendipitous. In some instances, they might be viewed as ‘planned’ successes which came about by working on the right problem, at the right time, in the right way. I believe we can continue these successes, if we so choose.