provocative opinion

Remarks at the Dedication of a Chemistry Building at a Liberal Arts College Henry A. Bent North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695

We're gathered today to dedicate a new chemistry build- ing at Elizabethtown College.

A college, it's been said, is a collection of bricks, books, and brains-in that order of increasing importance the faculty might say. Yet, look again a t this new chemistry building. What does one see beneath simple optical appearances? That may depend, of course, on one's point of view.

As a citizen, one sees a material witness of man's humanity to man-a gift of the older generation to younger genera- tions.

As a teacher, one sees an expression of faith in educa- tion-a statement going beyond merely pious words of praise.

As a new friend of the College, one sees an expression of confidence in Elizabethtown College-in its ability to pro- vide education of outstanding quality.

As a graduate of a liberal arts college, one sees an expres- sion of faith in the ability of chemistry to serve the interests of eeneral education-of faith in the belief that, as the phi- losopher Whitehead put it, the subjects pursued'for the dake of eeneral education are snecial subiects speciallv studied.

I\s an advisor of pre-meds, one sees an expression of faith in the importance of organic, organized, organism chemis- try-a faith inchemistry in the service of the health sciences.

And, as a chemist, one sees a monument to man's ingenu- ity to modify not only people's behavior in the service of humanity but also the properties of inanimate materials. From gravel and cooked rock came the building's concrete foundation; from rust and coke its hidden steel girders; from sand and washing soda its sparkling windows; from tar and oil its floor tiles.

The building is a visible testament of a long, long jour- ney-the journey of building better things for better living through materials' modification. That journey began even before stone-age chipping of flints. Later came pottery mak- ing: and minine and metallur~v; the ages of bronze and steel; an> still later plastics and se&irond&tors and the delicate art ot'the (1clit)erate moditiration of materials at the level of individual molecules-which we call chemistry.

Give chemists your lowly earths, your air, your fire, your water, and they can make you almost anything. For every thing is a chemical. The trash can labelled "NO CHEMI- CALS!" can't contain any thing, not even air.

Give chemists earth, air, fire, and water, and they can make you plastics, fertilizers, and pharmaceuticals-or, if society so directs, high explosives, nerve gases, and napalm.

And so one sees in this new chemistry building a t Eliza- bethtown College recognition of something else important: that, in Whitehead's words, science in the service of the practical needs of a nation needs to be conceived in a liberal spirit.

Take a simple example: this box of matches. I drop it. That's free fall. Physics tells us how i t falls: distance of fall from rest equals (1/2)gt2. Now I strike a match. THAT'S CHEMISTRY! A flame. (Chemistry, I like to say, is more striking than physics. Physics is no match for chemistry.)

Everyone should learn about flames and fires-the fires inside us, in our cars, in our furnaces, in industry-and how to husband God's greatest gift to mankind: spontaneous chemical transformations. For it's not energy we need to conserve. Energy is always conserved, by definition. The potential energy lost by the matchbox dropped is trans- formed during free fall into kinetic energy and thence, on impact, to heat, Joule for Joule. There's no point in trying to conserve energy. We can't help but conserve energy. What we need to husband are spontaneous chemical transforma- tions.

Now, chemistry tells us how a match burns-if I strike it. But will I strike it? That's a more complicated problem-a three-body problem. I t involves the match, the air, and me. It's a psychological problem. And then there's a still higher level problem.

Should I strike the match? That involves the match, the air. me. and vou. For a burnine match has an impact on the . , environment: oxygen consumption, carbon dioxide produc- tion. enhanced ereenhouse effect, elevated temperature of the karth, polar~ce-cap melting, flooding of coastal areas.

Should I strike the match is a social problem-a trans- scientific problem. No amount of chemistry alone can an- swer the question: Should I strike a match?

Science is not science-policy. Science-policy is not science. Science deals with doesldoesn't; science-policy with should/ shouldn't. They're complementary activities. Each needs the other. As a citizen of the world, one sees in this new chemistry building a t Elizabethtown College a visible Decla- ration of Dependence of science on public policy and of public policy on science. The campus newly enriched by this chemistry building is a noteworthy statement of a Principle of Complementarity. That-

~ n o w l e d ~ e without wisdom lacks direction. Chemistry in the service of humanitv needs the humanities. Better things . for war or peace?

And wisdom without knowledge lacks significance. The humanities in the service of humanity need chemistry. Is peace possible with so many better things?

Remember, every thing is a chemical. Thus, there's a chemical reason for nearly everything: how you felt this morning; cancer; US. foreign policy; the world's economic system.

Why support an inhuman regime in South Africa? Strate- gic Minerals.

54 Journal of Chemical Education

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