Nobelpreisträger Chemie 2022
Universität Kopenhagen
Everything is chemistry
Humans are changing the structure and chemical composition of the world we live in at a historically unprecedented rate. This could have major consequences for all of us now and in the future. It is through chemistry that we can understand the changes that are happening and their consequences. Therefore, we should teach chemistry to our young people because it is through chemistry that we gain the self-understanding of man as an integral part of reality here on earth. Even our emotions, thoughts and behavior are governed by chemistry, chemistry that has existed for hundreds of millions of years. “Everything is chemistry” will be illustrated with examples and prompts for discussion on how we can modernize our old education system to this all-encompassing concept of scientific empathy. And there’s room for a little “Nobel” chemistry too.
Zur Person
Morten Meldal is a Danish chemist and professor at the Department of Chemistry at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He was awarded the 2022 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, alongside Barry Sharpless and Carolyn Bartozzi, for the groundbreaking development of ‘Click chemistry and biorthogonal chemistry’. Throughout Meldal’s career, his research has had innovative influences on methods in peptide and combinatorial chemistry. His involvement in method development of solid-phase and combinatorial peptide synthesis, as well as development of the CuAAc Click reaction, have become mainstream methods for application in bioorganic and organic synthesis.