Lecture - Prof. Roald Hoffmann

[De Meo Corona Gabriella]

A lecture will be presented by Prof.  R. Hoffmann (Nobel Prize),  
Cornell University, U.S.A.

on Friday 12 October 11.10a.m., Adriatico Guest House (Kastler Lecture 
Hall)





										     EVERYONE IS WELCOME TO ATTEND

																								               ABSTRACT:


A  NONLINEAR APPROACH TO CHEMISTRY
Roald Hoffmann
Cornell University

	Chemistry, poised between the physical and biological universes, 
doesn’t deal with the infinitely small or large.  It is very much on 
the human scale, and from that derives its great interest and its 
problems. In this generously illustrated lecture, without a single 
mathematical equation, several views of chemistry will be presented: 
First of all, chemistry is, as it has always been, the art, craft, 
business of substances and their transformations. It is now also the 
science of molecules, both simple and complex -- chemists think 
simultaneously of macroscopic substances and microscopic molecules 
changing. One must also look at people’s perception of chemistry, in 
terms of its benefits, yes, but also in terms of its risks. Indeed, 
there is no way that a human activity so closely tied to change will be 
viewed without ambivalence by people. The tensions of chemistry will be 
explored, its relations to the arts, and in a psychological 
perspective.