"The big fundamental problems today are in physics and biology."
Chemistry doesn't have any really big fundamental problems. The last big question in chemistry was 'what is the nature of the chemical bond?' — and that was answered almost 100 years ago with the advent of quantum mechanics. The big fundamental problems today are in physics and biology.
In physics, the big question is: how can the two great theories in physics — quantum physics and the theory of gravitation — be unified? There are other questions: what is the content of our Universe? What are dark matter and dark energy? Only four per cent of the Universe is the matter that we are made of; what is the rest?
In biology, there is: what is life? We know which elements are important for life, but will it ever be possible for humans to create artificial life? These are the big questions. Chemistry has nothing compared with this.
[Description: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v502/n7471_supp/images/502S53a-i3.jpg]
Feed: Nature - Issue - nature.com science feeds
Posted on: Wednesday, 16 October 2013 11:00 AM
Author: Gerhard Ertl
Subject: Q&A: A lateral thinker
Q&A: A lateral thinker
Nature. doi:10.1038/502S53a<http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/502S53a>
Author: Gerhard Ertl
The winner of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Chemistry ponders biology's big questions with Diane Wu.
View article...<http://feeds.nature.com/~r/nature/rss/current/~3/SMjoG-IBjiY/502S53a>
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