This success led my theoretical group to the chemical reactivity theory, extending more and more widely the range of compound and reactions that were discussed.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I was also interested in formulating the path of chemical reactions.
My special fascination has been to understand better the world of chemistry and its complexities.
Chemical synthesis is uniquely positioned at the heart of chemistry, the central science, and its impact on our lives and society is all pervasive.
Through the continued accumulation of detailed and reliable knowledge about elementary reactions, we will be in a better position to understand, predict and control many time-dependent macroscopic chemical processes which are important in nature or to human society.
I have always been an avid reader of chemical literature, eager for what is new.
My own ideas on the mechanism of catalytic phenomena were very different from those at one time commonly held, ideas which I no doubt owed to the influence of the illustrious teacher who had guided my first steps in chemistry nearly twenty years before - I refer, of course, to Berthelot.
I was a chemistry major, but I'm always winding up as a teacher in English departments, so I've brought scientific thinking to literature. There's been very little gratitude for this.
The development of a rational view of the nature of catalysis was thus absolutely dependent on the creation of the concept of the rate of chemical reaction.
But the nature of my main work in chemistry can be better represented by more than 280 English publications, of which roughly 200 concern the theory of chemical reactions and related subjects.
It has pleased no less than surprised me that of the many studies whereby I have sought to extend the field of general chemistry, the highest scientific distinction that there is today has been awarded for those on catalysis.