Chemist

History

Main article: History of chemistry

The roots of chemistry can be traced to the phenomenon of burning. Fire was a mystical force that transformed one substance into another and thus was of primary interest to mankind. It was fire that led to the discovery of Nobel Prize in Chemistry created in 1901 gives an excellent overview of chemical discovery in the past 100 years.

Education

Jobs for chemists usually require at least a bachelor's degree, but many positions, especially those in research, require a Ph.D. Most undergraduate programs emphasize mathematics and physics as well as chemistry, partly because chemistry is also known as "physical chemistry. Postdoctoral experience may be required for certain positions.

Employment

The three major employers of chemists are academic institutions, industry, especially the pharmaceutical industry, and government laboratories.

Chemistry typically is divided into several major sub-disciplines. There are also several main cross-disciplinary and more specialized fields of chemistry. There is a great deal of overlap between different branches of chemistry, as well as with other scientific fields such as biology, medicine, physics, and several engineering disciplines.

• Analytical chemistry is the analysis of material samples to gain an understanding of their chemical composition and structure. Analytical chemistry incorporates standardized experimental methods in chemistry. These methods may be used in all subdisciplines of chemistry, excluding purely theoretical chemistry.

• medicinal chemistry.

• organometallic chemistry. Inorganic chemistry is also the study of atomic and molecular structure and bonding.

• Medicinal chemistry is the science involved with designing, synthesizing and developing pharmaceutical drugs. Medicinal chemistry involves the identification, synthesis and development of new chemical entities suitable for therapeutic use. It also includes the study of existing drugs, their biological properties, and their quantitative structure-activity relationships.

• Organic chemistry is the study of the structure, properties, composition, mechanisms, and chemical reaction of organic compounds.

• Physical chemistry is the study of the physical fundamental basis of chemical systems and processes. In particular, the energetics and dynamics of such systems and processes are of interest to physical chemists. Important areas of study include chemical thermodynamics, chemical kinetics, electrochemistry, quantum chemistry, statistical mechanics, and spectroscopy. Physical chemistry has large overlap with theoretical chemistry and molecular physics. Physical chemistry involves the use of calculus in deriving equations.

• molecular physics.See Reductionism.

All the above major areas of chemistry employ chemists. Other fields where chemical degrees are useful include Surface chemistry.

See also

• List of chemistry topics
• List of chemists
• List of important publications in chemistry
• List of scientific journals in chemistry
• List of Chemistry Societies

References

• American Chemical Society website
• Chemical Abstracts Service indexes and abstracts the world's chemistry-related literature and patents
• Chemists and Materials Scientists from the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Outlook Handbook
• Royal Society of Chemistry website
• History of Chemistry links for chemists
• Luminaries of the Chemical Sciences accomplishments, biography, and publications from 44 of the most influential chemists
• Selected Classic Papers from the History of Chemistry
• Links for Chemists guide to web sites related to chemistry