What Makes a Good Analytical Chemist?

What makes a good analytical chemist? This was a question I was asked recently while giving a course on method validation. The question was somewhat of a challenge to answer ‘off the cuff’, however, it lead to an interesting excercise amongst the course delegates and to the formulation a number of attributes that would make a good analytical chemist. These include; intellectual curiosity, a passion for science, self-confidence, solid work ethic, drive, committment, good time management, perseverance, determination, patience, self-motivated and a strong desire to succeed. Additionally it was felt that a good analytical chemist needs to work and think independently, work well with others and be a good problem solver and understand that problem solving is a process, not something memorised. A few days later, after some deliberation I added to the list of attributes and believed that a good analytical chemist needs to be knowledgeable in all areas of chemistry, and able to integrate their knowledge across all areas of science, within and beyond chemistry. Good quantitative and reasoning skills and an ability to grasp difficult concepts and reduce them to an understandable foundation I feel are vital attributes. As we all know problems arise in the laboratory and a good analytical chemist needs to be an excellent problem solver. Communication in terms of good oral and written communication skills is vital as the analyst needs to be able to articulate their knowledge and thought processes to others. I’d be happy to hear your views!

Fossil Collecting in Italy

By Allan Fraser


On an annual basis my wife and I take our holidays in Italy and this year was no exception. On our way to the Euro Mineral Show in Turin, we spent a few days in the the Piedmont area near the town of Asti enjoying the good food and exceptional wines. Besides being a country of immense beauty one also gets a deep sense of the human history when visiting Italian cities and travelling through the countryside. Most Italian cities are built on Roman foundations and Roman roads are still used to a large extent today. But human history is but one ancient part of Italy. About 2 - 5 million years ago, most of the low-lying regions of Italy were covered in a shallow warm sea. The evidence of this ancient sea can be found in many regions of Italy as inland beach sands, clays and other marine rocks along with a variety of marine fossils. In the northwest region of Italy, particularly in the Piedmont area, ancient beach sands dominate the landscape having formed small round hills.

Whilst visiting a guest farm near the town of Asti in Piedmont we discovered a cliff made of this ancient beach sand and we were amazed to see numerous fossil shells protruding from the compacted sand. We were able to extract several of these fossils which were easy to clean of the sand to expose the fossilised shells. We collected about a dozen and left those behind that were not complete or showed some damage. Later a literature search indicated that the shells we had found were of the species Pecten Nigromagnus and those they had lived about 3 to 5 million years ago during what Earth Scientists call the Pliocene period. I took pictures of the fossils (shown here) before donating them to the Piedmont Paleontological Society.

Self-Evaluation - A Desirable Philosophy for the Analytical Chemist

A good analyst continually tempers his or her confidence with doubt. Such doubt leads stimulates a search for new and different methods of confirmation for reassurance. Frequent self-appraisals should embrace every step – from collecting samples to the reporting of results.

The analyst’s first critical scrutiny should be directed at the entire sample collection process in order to guarantee a representative sample for the purpose of the analysis and to avoid any possible losses or contamination during the act of collection. Attention should also be given to the type of container and to the manner of transport and storage.

A periodic assessment should be made of the available analytical methods, with an eye to applicability for the purpose and the situation. In addition, each method selected must be evaluated by the analyst for sensitivity, precision and accuracy, because only inn this way can he determine whether he has interpreted the directions properly. Self-evaluation on these points can give the analyst confidence in the value and significance of his reported results.

Here are a few of my favourite quotes by the late great American astronomer, Carl Sagan (1934-1996).


"Modern science has been a voyage into the unknown, with a lesson in humility waiting at every stop. Many passengers would rather have stayed home"
Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot


"The method of science is tried and true. It is not perfect, it's just the best we have. And to abandon it with its skeptical protocols is the pathway to a dark age"
-- Carl Sagan

"For years I've been stressing with regard to UFOs that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence"
-- Carl Sagan, quoted from Billions and Billions, chapter 5 ("Four Cosmic Questions"), page 49

"If some good evidence for life after death were announced, I'd be eager to examine it; but it would have to be real scientific data, not mere anecdote.... Better the hard truth, I say, than the comforting fantasy"-- Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World, page 204

Minerals from Peru - new additions to my Mineral Collection!

Bournonite after Tetrahedrite with Quartz (~7 cm) from a new find at Mundo Nuevo mine













A large manganoan calcite crystal with pyrite on tetrahedrite. From the famous Casapalca mine












Orange orpiment with barite, Quirivilca mine


















A large Manganoan Calcite ~13 cm with calcite and sphalerite from Racrachanca mine.

















Purple Coquimbite (~6 cm) from Peru















Sphalerite with calcite (~8 cm) from Ticlio mine















These are a number of new mineral specimens added to my growing collection of minerals from the country of Peru. The new bournonite pseudomorph after tetrahedrite from Mondo Nuevo specimens are particulary intruiging and are just one of many fascinating pseudormorphs from Peru. The Sphalerite with calcite specimen from Ticlio mine has to be one of my favourites. There is a "shelf" of fine calcite in the center of the specimen that has several spheres of sphalerite on the shelf. The sphalerite have a dark blue iridescence which makes the entire specimen especially attractive!


Allan

African Rainstorm in the Waterberg

Late last year I visited the Waterberg area of South Africa. I was standing on a ridge overlooking a thunderstorm moving over a distant plain. The pictures above show the progression of the storm over about a half hour. The area is pristine and typical of the Waterberg area with thorn trees and low lying hills. I imagined that this scene would have been been witnessed by Australopithecus africanus or Homo Erectus as they looked over a similar landscape millions of years ago.

The hills in the distance are 1.6 billion year old sedimentary rocks called the Waterberg Supergroup rocks which are a sequence of conglomerates, sandstones and shales. Read more on the Waterberg rocks at http://www.onlineminerals.com/geo.htm

Allan

February 16

Scientists Rally against Creationists

The young Charles Darwin

Scientists rally against creationist 'superstition'


To mark a double anniversary celebrating Charles Darwin, the father of evolution, his supporters are taking the fight to their opponents The rise of creationism in Britain to the point where four out of 10 Britons believe it to be the literal truth – as well as the idea being taught in state-approved schools – has spread alarm throughout the scientific community. But this week sees the start of a concerted fightback, as an 18-month celebration of evolution and its greatest proponent, Charles Darwin, gets under way, marking the 150th anniversary of the unveiling of his theory and the 200th anniversary of his birth. People all over Europe will take part in a mass experiment to discover evolutionary changes to a species of snail; a major series of programmes is to be shown by the BBC; several books are to be published; and the Open University plans a new course on the subject. Entries for a competition to design "Darwin's Canopy" – a piece of art to cover a ceiling in the Natural History Museum – will be unveiled this week, and the museum will hold a major exhibition on Darwin beginning in November. Dr Bob Bloomfield, head of special projects at the museum and a key figure in the "Darwin200" project, said he was concerned by the prevalence of creationist ideas.

"The statistics in this country are quite frightening. If you add up the percentages that either believe in creationism or intelligent design, it is approaching 40 per cent," he said. "I don't think society can be complacent when ideas which are unsound are perpetrated. We are trying not to compromise people's faith views, other than where they are absolutely inconsistent with science." He said the teaching of creationism in schools was "very problematic". Professor Jonathan Silvertown of the Open University, who is writing a book entitled 99% Ape: How Evolution Adds Up, said the OU would be running a course called Darwin and Evolution. "The idea is to give people a feel for the modern evidence," he said. He and the geneticist Professor Steve Jones, of University College London, are involved in a mass science project to study changes in banded snails, by recruiting tens of thousands of people across Europe. Professor Jones said religious students – even those studying medicine – were becoming increasingly vocal in their opposition to evolution, saying he was "telling lies and insulting people's religion" by teaching the subject. "They want permission not to come to those lectures and sit those exam questions," he said. "I have been teaching genetics and evolutionary biology for 30 years and for the first 20 I think the issue arose once. That's changed."

Reposted from : http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/scientists-rally-against-creationist-superstition-837832.html