One of the Delphic maxims is the statement: "Know thyself."
Knowing ourselves allows us to better navigate the world around us. Knowing ourselves helps us with interpersonal interactions. Knowing ourselves is crucial if we want to understand how others see us.
While the original adage was meant for individuals, it could also be applied to organizations and even professions, such as chemistry.
Indeed, this is the focus of a recently released report from the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). This is a British society but one of the two most prestigious organizations for chemists in the world. The RSC is deeply concerned with the public perception of chemistry.
Their research tells us that chemists are far more pessimistic in their assessment of what they think the public attitude towards science is than the public actually is.
For example, 84 per cent of the public surveyed agreed with the statement that chemists make a valuable contribution to society but of the chemists surveyed, only 12 per cent thought the public would say so.
Similarly, 62 per cent of the public agreed that jobs in chemistry are interesting but only 27 per cent of the chemists thought they would say that.
And 88 per cent of the public said chemists are approachable while only 20 per cent of chemists thought the public would have that attitude.
Clearly, chemists are fairly pessimistic about the public perception of the profession.
It is perhaps not a surprising result when we are constantly inundated with commercials telling us about chemical free cleaning products or hair dyes with no harsh chemicals along with the litany of newspaper and magazine articles detailing the deadly scourge of a chemical society.
Chemists tend to be defensive because we assume chemistry is under attack. And yet, 60 per cent of the public agreed with the statement everything is made of chemicals, 70 per cent agreed that everything, including water and oxygen, can be toxic at a certain dose, and 67 per cent disagreed with the statement that all chemicals are man-made.
The majority of the public has a good understanding of chemicals and their role in the world around us. Chemists, perhaps, don't understand that.
More surprising, perhaps, is that the strongest reaction to chemistry is not fear, confusion, or support but simple indifference. The majority of people surveyed - 51 per cent - when asked how they feel about chemistry answered "neutral." They neither hate nor love it.
The same can not be said for science as a whole. It is associated with words like fun, welcoming and sociable. This might have something to do with the way we teach science in schools and in camps such as Science Alliance and Active Minds in communities like Prince George. There has been a significant and concerted push during the last two decades to take science out of the classroom and into public spaces. Exploration Place is a cool place to hang out.
Also, despite the general indifference to chemistry, chemists and other scientists still retain a very high trust factor. Over 90 per cent of the public have faith that scientists are telling the truth, that they follow the rules and regulations relevant to them, and they can provide valuable factual information.
All of this speaks well to the public's view of chemistry in particular and science as a whole.
In public-relations terms, chemists even have an opportunity to fill in the void in the collective consciousness with positive images. It is like pushing against a door that is already open.
Unfortunately, the good work being done by the majority of scientists doesn't generally make the headlines. You are not likely to see The New York Times print a headline saying: Chemist methylates a previously known compound.
Rather, The New York Times recently published an editorial with the headline: Scientists who cheat!
This was in response to a high-profile case of scandal, fraud allegations, and a retraction associated with published work on public opinion and attitudes regarding same-sex marriage. Turns out the researcher who conducted the study made up much of the data.
These sorts of incidents are very rare, though, and I do not recall a case in recent memory of similar allegations and a retraction in chemistry. This is despite the fact there are more than 1 million chemistry journal articles published every year.
On the whole, the public is really just interested in finding out more about chemistry, particularly as it relates to their everyday lives. Indeed, the RSC research indicates that about two thirds of the public are interested in finding out more about the role of chemistry in feeding the world, developing clean water technology, and developing renewable energy.
Chemistry is a very old discipline within the realm of science. As a species, we have been practicing chemistry for at least 12,000 years and even longer if you count cooking.
But understanding how others perceive chemistry is still something chemists are learning.
