National values

In American Scientist, Roald Hoffmann conveys excitement about theoretical chemistry. There’s still work to be done, molecules to dream up, puzzles and problems to solve. These sorts of intellectual pursuits for the sake of knowledge and for the sake of progress are the real America to me. I grew up hanging around a national lab, where scientists from all over the world saw that America valued science. Crystallography moms and math dads passing on the value of teaching, the value of learning, the value of research and collaboration. That’s the American idea, or at least a working hypothesis.