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Barry M. Trost, Stanford University, USA:

The most exciting thing about my research is its potential to change the practice of chemistry and, by so doing, enable chemistry to be used more effectively to help solve the problems of society.

30th

Jinbo Hu, Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences:

The best advice I have ever been given is don’t have blind faith in what has been reported in the literature.

10th

David A. Leigh, University of Manchester, UK:

I like refereeing because otherwise Sir Alex Ferguson wouldn’t get an extra five minutes added to the end of any game that Manchester United are losing. (Ferguson is notorious for apparently trying to influence referees with regards to time-keeping in key soccer matches.)

25th

Martin Jansen, Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Stuttgart, Germany:

The most significant scientific advance of the last 100 years has been the discovery of X-ray diffraction by atomic lattices.

30th

Karl Anker Jørgensen, Aarhus University, Denmark:

My favorite piece of research is the Woodward–Hoffmann rules—they tell us how simple and elegant chemistry is.

35th

Stephen B. H. Kent, The University of Chicago, USA:

The most exciting thing about my research is seeking to understand why different scientific ideas are accepted or rejected by the worldwide research community.

10th

Ayyappanpillai Ajayaghosh, National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, India:

If I could be anyone for a day, I would be Michael Faraday.

15th

Michael Tsapatsis, University of Minnesota, USA:

The biggest challenge facing scientists is to ensure the peaceful use of their discoveries.

10th

Jianbo Wang, Peking University, China:

Young people should study chemistry because you can make a living from it while enjoying the freedom and the excitement of discovery.

10th

Wolfgang A. Herrmann, Technical University of Munich, Germany:

The most important thing I learned from my students is to critically question basic textbook knowledge.

10th

Atsuhiro Osuka, Kyoto University, Japan:

My greatest achievement has been mentoring many talented young students.

50th

Noritaka Mizuno, The University of Tokyo, Japan:

The secret of being a successful scientist is to have a self-critical eye and to have the luck to work with talented co-workers.

25th

Dietmar Stalke, Georg-August University, Göttingen, Germany:

The most amusing chemistry adventure in my career was at the age of 14—to evacuate a wasps nest with a vacuum cleaner, try to anesthetize them with gasoline vapor, and not notice the subsequent vast explosion in the garage (luckily nobody was injured).

25th

Chengde Mao, Purdue University, USA:

The greatest scientific advance of the last decade was the development of induced pluripotent stem cells.

10th

Gerard Meijer, Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, Germany:

I like refereeing because it is an excellent way to stay up-to-date in the research field.

10th