Foreword to the First Edition Free

We live in an age of instantaneous access to information and instantaneous ability to comment. This may not always be good when the need to check facts and ensure reliability is a vitally necessary condition for the validity of arguments. Furthermore, the perception that can be created seems now to be more the aim of people who seek influence than honest opinion-forming discussion based on reliable evidence. It is thus hardly surprising that most “true” scientists, whose intrinsic raison d'etre is the disinterested quest for the truth about the way the Universe works, are reluctant to get too closely involved with the instantaneous communication process and often feel uncomfortable about the results when they do.

Scientists, along with experts in other fields, are often intimately aware of the limitations that are intrinsic to the doubt-based understanding that surrounds many complex issues of importance at the science/society interface. Consequently, many scientists can appear diffident and hesitant when involved in open public debate on scientific and related matters. By comparison, professional media commentators often portray their ignorance in the communications arena and seem truly unaware of their limitations. Unfortunately, the uninhibited aura of their commentary tends to propagate misunderstanding as having a scientific basis. In this age of the “sound-bite”, almost no issue is dealt with in adequate depth. It was for these reasons that some time ago I decided to create an effective platform for professional scientists with state-of-the-art expertise and understanding to communicate on major issues via TV and the Internet. The original Vega Science Trust initiative with an open access internet site (at www.vega.org.uk) streaming free material has now been joined by the Global Educational Outreach for Science Engineering and Technology sites (GEOSET, www.geoset.info, www.geoset.fsu.edu).

So many of the benefits are now taken for granted that we have all but lost an appreciation of the overwhelming impact on everyday life and importance of science for our continued well-being. We are presently struggling to respond to our apprehensions about the implications of climate change and a plethora of equally disturbing global challenges. Thus, more than ever before, there is a critical need for a deeper understanding of the contributions of science and technology, and scientists must become involved as only they can have the intrinsic awareness of the complex issues involved and must carefully articulate them. A new generation of young scientists is needed desperately, which has the energy, deep insight and enthusiasm to take up the challenge of communicating with the general public if we are to have any chance of a sustainable future for the environment and society. One specific concern is the fact that the majority of our children receive a relatively poor education in the sciences in schools and universities and do not develop the intrinsic critical thinking that only hands-on empirical experimentation can instil. There is not only a need for broad cross-disciplinary education across the arts/sciences/humanities spectrum but also for multi-disciplinarity training within the whole science/engineering/technology educational arena.

As a chemist, I am acutely aware that, in the 21st century, my discipline overlaps with physics, engineering and biology more than ever before and where that overlap is strongest, exciting advances are forthcoming. I am delighted to support the major effort that Neil Winterton has made in writing this book to elaborate, in detail, the wide-ranging implications of chemistry to everyday life and the future of our socio-economic environment. He has clarified the pros and cons of chemistry and highlighted the ways in which it can contribute to the development of sustainable technologies. His text fills in the gaps in standard chemistry teaching by highlighting how science is done and how the outcomes and applications of research in ground-breaking areas are often unpredictable and invariably lead to the most revolutionary advances. These are of particular importance for our decision-makers (government leaders, university administrators, science funding bureaucrats as well as those who direct industrial programmes) involved with the funding and exploitation of the sciences.

Those prepared to carefully assess the detailed arguments presented here will be rewarded with an enhanced insight into science and its contributions to society and its development. As the author points out, this is for the reader with a major concern about modern science and keen awareness that understanding of complex issues requires a significant commitment to assess the arguments.

Neil Winterton's career and experience have given him the background necessary to create this text. Our first contact came when he called out-of-the-blue to discuss his (and ICI's) interest in the possible chemical implications of our C₆₀, the third form of carbon. This unique carbon cage molecule, which we had discovered some years before, was finally available in sufficient quantities for its novel chemical behaviour to be examined experimentally. He and his colleagues at ICI (and others in BP) were so interested in this that they were able to provide the support that my group at the University of Sussex desperately needed to exploit this molecule's exciting promise and that had not been forthcoming from academic funding agencies. ICI at that time was managed at the highest level by people who recognised the crucial importance of fundamental science and were prepared to support exciting new developments. The great bonus of such a perspective was the generation of initiatives that fostered synergistic collaborations between industrial scientists, engineers and technologists and academic researchers. It was a revelation to me that ICI had the vision (at that time) to employ people like Neil, who had a PhD in inorganic reaction mechanisms, to work in extremely basic industrial areas (e.g. chlorine and its products) and also have a company-wide ancilliary brief to explore innovative new research avenues. It is vital to our future that innovators in business-driven environments are encouraged to explore new topics and be able to fund them and this ICI initiative should be a blueprint for encouraging innovation today.

This book should be read by all chemists and chemical technologists as this new perspective will reveal topics and issues with which few are adequately familiar. Graduates, in particular those who may no longer use their scientific knowledge directly, will benefit from its focus on contemporary questions and it will enable them to become acutely aware of the scientific issues involved. As is indicated by the title, in a globally-interconnected world in which complex technologies are evolving rapidly, this book provides an excellent foundation for involvement and succeeds in providing a starting point for anyone wanting to follow the general science/society interface topic further. In particular, it enables the reader to track down original and reliable information.

Harry Kroto

Florida

March 2010