The Science of Chemistry Today

Chemistry has a unique, central position among the sciences (Fig. 1.6). It is so central that much research in chemistry today overlaps physics, biology, geology, and other sciences. You will frequently find both chemists and physicists, or chemists and biologists, working on the same research problems. Scientists often refer to themselves with compound words or phrases that include the suffix or word chemist biochemist, geochemist, physical chemist, medicinal chemist, and so on. 

You will find the people who practice chemistry—chemists—in many fields. Probably the chemists most familiar to you are those who teach and do chemical research in colleges and universities. Many industries employ chemists for research, product development, quality control, production supervision, sales, and other tasks. The petroleum industry is the largest single employer of chemists, but chemists are also highly visible in medicine, government, chemical manufacturing, the food industry, and mining. 

Chemical manufacturers produce many things we buy and use and take for granted today. However, much of the chemical industry s output rarely reaches the public in raw form. Instead, it is used to make consumer products. Tables 1.1 and 1.2 list the top five inorganic chemicals and fertilizer materials produced in 2003. Most of the names may be familiar to you, but you cannot buy any of the chemicals at a local store. 

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