My love for “Chimie”

Chemistry makes most people think of violent explosions and vibrantly coloured liquids bubbling over a Bunsen burner. But for me it is much more. I love chemistry because there is so much more to it than just explosions! The physiological reactions that keep you alive? All of them can be understood through chemical principles. Being as fundamental as physics, chemistry gives us insight into other sciences: biology, geology, pharmacology, nutrition and so on. A biologist wondering about the origin of life cannot tackle the problem without considering chemiosmosis and chemical kinetics. How does a geologist explain the difference in color between rubies and emeralds without understanding the impurities’ effects on the ligand field of chromium(III) ion? On that note, did you know that the ‘spark’ and chemistry that people feel when they fall in love really is underlined by chemistry? Or the chemical reactions take place in your brain when you drink coffee or eat a lot of chocolates. All these fascinating things have very basic chemistry behind them. At first, I didn’t always love chemistry, but when I realised that it was going on all around me all the time, I was able to link the concepts in my textbook to the things I saw in everyday life such as driving a car, the electricity powering my home and even the digestion of a cookie. All this built up my interest and love in chemistry. My teachers at G D Goenka University were another factor for building my interest in the subject. They always came up with interesting methods to learn about chemistry and made the class very interactive. Along with it there were a lot of practical demonstrations to understand a concept at a very deep level. They encouraged me in taking projects and in doing experiments whenever required. And this greatly enhanced my knowledge.

Chemistry often seems to people as an impenetrable world that they will never be able to break into. However, for me chemistry is filled with puzzles, and solving any puzzle can be incredibly satisfying, no matter how much hard work it takes. The best part is that once I understand one section of chemistry, the rest of the puzzles can be solved much more quickly. Understanding chemistry adds to my realization of how special life and human beings are. I love Chemistry because it is a puzzle-like language which defines the world around us. It is like a secret code that only chemists can read, yet understanding this language is key to developing modern technology and helping save lives.

Deepika

M.Sc. Chemistry (2018-2020)

School of Basic and Applied Sciences

(26 Feb 2020)