To a synthetic chemist, the complex molecules of nature are as beautiful as any of her other creations. The perception of that beauty depends on the understanding of chemical structures and their transformations, and, as with a treasured work of art, deepens as the subject is studied, perhaps even to a level approaching romance.
Interpretation
The beauty of nature's complex molecules is appreciated through understanding their chemical structures.
Elias James Corey emphasizes that the beauty found in the complex molecules of nature is akin to that found in art, revealing itself through a deep understanding of chemistry. This appreciation not only highlights the intricate designs and transformations of these molecules but also suggests that such beauty may evoke strong emotional responses, comparable to the feelings stirred by art, as one delves deeper into the study of chemistry.
In practice
In a speech about scientific discoveries, this quote could highlight the intersection of science and aesthetics.
To the field of synthetic chemistry belongs an array of responsibilities which are crucial for the future of mankind, not only with regard to the health and needs of our society, but also for the attainment of a deep understanding of matter, chemical change, and life.
On seeing the marsupials in Australia for the first time and comparing them to placental mammals: “An unbeliever . . . might exclaim 'Surely two distinct Creators must have been at work'”
Science is the ultimate pornography, analytic activity whose main aim is to isolate objects or events from their contexts in time and space. This obsession with the specific activity of quantified functions is what science shares with pornography.
It stands to the everlasting credit of science that by acting on the human mind it has overcome man's insecurity before himself and before nature.
The psychological profiling [of a programmer] is mostly the ability to shift levels of abstraction, from low level to high level. To see something in the small and to see something in the large.
Back in my days as a chemistry student, I used to be quite a technocrat. I was firmly convinced that scientists would have cornered God and photographed Him in color by 1951.
The best material model of a cat is another, or preferably the same, cat.
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