using your chemistry super power to do good….

John Polanyi just won the Herzberg Gold Medal in Canada! (For all you non-Canadians, this is the highest award in science and engineering you can get in this country.) But in addition to doing great science (a Nobel prize winner in 1986), he is also has spoken out for peace and just lately for doing the sensible thing

His career has also included a long-time focus on political and social issues, particularly those related to science. Over the years he has written many articles on subjects such as arms control, peace and science policy. He was the co-founder and first Chair of the Canadian Pugwash Group, part of an international movement dedicated to understanding the social impact of science and preventing its misuse.

He feels it is incumbent on scientists to get involved in order to ensure that science is not misused. Discoveries themselves are not good or evil, only the purposes they are put to. “It’s up to scientists, in the other half of their lives as citizens, to try to tilt the balance,” he says. “What I try to do is get involved in the political process so that foolish or dangerous applications are not the ones that are pursued.”

“I would hate not to be involved in public affairs. It’s a privilege to be part of the political process.”

He also gave an interesting speech in 2004, in part:

Is security to be found, in this 21st century, by walling oneself off from the world at a cost of hundreds of billions of dollars, or is it better achieved by using the same money to reach out to the people in the direst need and thereby decrease the number of the desperate? I opt for the latter.

So he is still a chemist but uses his super-power for good!