Reply to comment

My love affair with science began eight years ago with the word serendipity.  During the first meeting of my honors chemistry class, the teacher read the story of teflon’s discovery by a young DuPont scientist. (http://www.amazon.com/Serendipity-Accidental-Discoveries-Royston-Roberts/dp/0471602035)  The teacher argued that being receptive to serendipity is the mark of a good scientist.  Curiosity and conscientiousness were the essential ingredients.  Memorization was secondary; the next book she read to us from was the CRC. 

As a freshman at Bryn Mawr, I was delighted to discover Serendip.  It was an expansion of everything I had loved about my sophomore chemistry class.  I spent many hours silently lurking on Serendip before meeting Paul.  Imagine how surprised I was to learn that Paul found chemistry one of the more boring sciences!  We argued about the central science’s merits quite a lot at the beginning of our relationship.  He was the only person I knew to doubt the great glory of chemistry.  He used the phrase “thinking like a chemist” as a minor insult.  It was incredibly refreshing at a time when I was terribly frustrated with my chosen major.   My conversations with Paul helped evolve my understanding of chemistry and the role it could play in my life.  He even let me sneak a little medicinal chemistry into my senior paper for the biology department.