Celebrating the International Year of Chemistry, 2011
What is the International Year of Chemistry? In order to bring attention to and celebrate the achievements of chemistry and its contributions to civilization, the General Assembly of the United Nations passed a resolution declaring 2011 as the International Year of Chemistry.
The year 2011 was selected because it coincides with the 100th anniversary of Marie Curie's Nobel Prize in chemistry and the 100th anniversary of the founding of the International Association of Chemical Societies (now IUPAC, the International Union of Pure & Applied Chemistry). By highlighting chemistry, the United Nations hopes to interest more bright young people in careers in this important and fascinating field.
The Chemistry Division and Los Alamos National Laboratory are celebrating the International Year of Chemistry through a series of activities, lectures, and events, many of which are open to the public. Our goal, which is consonant with the greater goal of the United Nations and IUPAC, is to educate concerning the discipline of chemistry and share some of our excitement concerning the wonders of chemistry.
About Chemistry at Los Alamos: At Los Alamos today, our work encompasses global security broadly writ, threat reduction, energy, environment, national health, and more. Myriad examples of chemistry exist in each, from the role of actinides in the environment in the Waste Isolation Pilot Project and Yucca Mountain projects, to the medical applications of the Isotope Production Facility programs at the Los Alamos Neutron Scattering Center, to plutonium and uranium chemistry in support of the weapons and energy missions, to chemistry developed for advanced materials and energy at facilities throughout the Laboratory.
Organizationally, chemistry at the Laboratory resides in seven directorates and eleven technical divisions. The Chemistry division itself is a major center of activity, but other technical organizations with significant chemical science capability include Materials Physics and Applications; Bioscience; Earth and Environmental Sciences; Materials Science and Technology; Manufacturing, Engineering and Technology; Nuclear Component Operations; Theory; LANSCE, Nuclear Nonproliferation, and Weapons Experiments.
Polish-born scientist Marie Curie was the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize, which she was granted in 1911 for her work with radioactivity.
Loan Le and Leon Lopez (right) use a back-pack portable Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy instrument to demonstrate remote detection of elements using a laser beam.
Kristen Norris (C-DO) and Anna Rodriguez (ASM) load a trailer with donation goods.
Catherin Pacheco of Northern New Mexico College accepts the supplies in Española.
Kristjana Timmers demonstrates foaming "Elephant Toothpaste" to Leah and Sam Wolfsberg at the Bradbury Science Museum on August 16th, 2011 for an International Year of Chemistry event. [more]