In everyday life, little pieces of wisdom are usually passed along in the form of proverbs or short stories that have morals (for example, “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”). In chemistry, there are also proverbs and short stories that get passed down from one generation to the next. For example, one chemical proverb is “the reactivity of a molecule is related to its structure”. As a student, this particular tidbit of wisdom took me quite a long time to appreciate.

As a new faculty member, I am relatively inexperienced in chemistry compared to those who have been engaged in chemistry for a long time. Moreover, it would be foolish of me not to draw upon the collective wisdom of the entire chemical community. It is in this spirit that I write this letter requesting chemical wisdom and proverbs. If the response is good, I will share what is collected.

If you have any pieces of chemical advice or wisdom to pass along to students, and you are willing to share your thoughts, please email them to me. At this point, I am interested in all pieces of chemical wisdom, so your chemical proverbs or short stories can relate to any aspect or any subdiscipline of chemistry (from biochemistry to physical chemistry and everything in between). In addition, your advice can be targeted to any level of student, from high-school-level general chemistry to advanced-level graduate work.