THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE CHEMIST
Man y who read th is w ill beco me ch emists, an d it is for them , espe cially, th at the d iscussion is inte nded. BU l these co nsidera t ions arc also of im p ortance to those re aders who
will choose oth er vocat io ns: for tod ay, m orc t han eyer before, scie nce affect s c\"er yonc.
T h ese o thers sh ou ld know th at chemists han: an ob ligat ion towar d the m, and sho u ld know
just wh at th is ob ligat io n is.
A d etailed sta tem en t o f the eth ics of the chemical pro fession , fo rm all y accepted by
most chem ists, d ocs no t ex ist. BU l LInaugh the year s an in form al unde rstandi ng o f the
respon sibi lit ies of the chem ist ha s evolved . W hat fol lows is the a uthor 's in terpr etat ion of
that in formal cod e , with special em p hasis 0 11 those par ts a pplyi ng to the inex per ienced
chem ist. Mu ch that per tains to the matur e professiona l ch em ist h as been om itted .
'\'e can be gin by asking the q ues tion : ' Vha t do es it mean to b e a good chemi st? T he
an swe r is twofold . A good chemi st is on e who kn ows h is chem istr y, wh o ca n ex p ress h im sel f wit h pro ficie ncy in writing and spea ki ng, and who see ks to increa se hi s knowledge o f
chem istry by co nt in ued study. A cousc icnr ious ch em ist cannot SlOp lear ning upon gr ad u ation , H e m ust 1'0110\\' a plan n ed cun- icu lu m of continued st ud y th ro ughou t his life. (O nce
begu n , th is is n ot so ard uous a task as it m ay appear to bc .)
T he second par t o f the answer is a li tt le mo r e d iffic ult to m easure u p to: A goo d ch emi st
is one who fu lfills his respo nsib ilit ies- an d h e has m:lIIY.
' Ve n eed n ot discu ss h er e the r esponsib il ities imposed b y Cod upo n eYery m em ber
of the human r ace : T o try to l ive in acco rd wi th the ten co mmandments and thc eight
beat itu des. Nor is ou r concer n with the d ut y of eye r y profession al man to carefu lly form
his ow n opinion on the curren t pro blems o f society, to properl y in fluence the o p in ions of
othe rs, to fu llill civ ic d u tie s, to im prove h is kno wledge 0 1" m att ers not d irectly r elate d 10
h is own field b y a pla n ned program of self -stu dy , and so Oil, T h ese duties ar c obviously
requi re d o f all.
O u r co ncern is with those respon sib il ities whi ch arc d irectly conn ected with the work
of a chem ist as a chemist. T hey can bc consi de red u nder three aspects: r esponsib ility to
society; responsib ility to an em plo yer ; re sponsib ilit y to O Il C's fe llow wo r ke rs.
III acquiri ng an educat ion , c\'cr yon c is indeb ted to h is p redecessors for th ei r contribu tions toward an u nd er stand ing of nat ure and to hi s contemporaries for their insp ir at ion
and enco u ra ge ment. Fr om Ari stot le th ro ugh Al bcr tu s Xlagu us and Lavo isier , to P lanck
an d Einstein , to ment io n on ly a few, from the immed iate fam ily, fro m tea ch ers and friend s
and Illan y o thers, have come contri butio ns ma k ing it possib le for you l O b ecom e an educated
ma n . To these benefactors an obligation is dearly owed .
Chem ise, can pay this debt in m an y ways. So me will set o u t purposely to co ntr ibute
new kn owledge. T hese re search wor ke rs arc obl igated to be o bjec t in in t he p u rsuit and
interpre ta ti on of th eir findings, and not to distor t the resu lt s of these ex peri me nts to suit
their OW II ends and prejudices.
Some will use the know ledge they h an
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gained b y transm itting it to others, T h is
grou p. whic h in cl udes teach ers an d o th ers wh o com e before the public wit h infor m at io n .
is ob liged to seck and transmi t new kno wled ge th at is d eveloped by th e r esea rche r , and to
avoid teaching false in for m at io n . Chem ists must welcome opport u ni ti es to speak p u blicly
about the ir profession , to help ot hers u nd erstand what ch emi str y is an d what che m ists do .
Other chemist s will go into in d ustr y. T h is group has a moral res ponsib ility to !'>ee
that their work is used for th e benefit. and not the det ri ment , o f mank ind . T hey m ust
"su p port and cncou rage the leg-al and eth ica l u se of chem istry. and o ppo<,e its improper usc .
All chem ists. of co u rse, are com m itted to expQ<,c fra u d and er ro r whi ch may n ot be
apparcnt to the genera l p u blic. but which their train in g ena bles them to recognize. I n
such cases, ex pe r ien ced chem ists sho u ld be consulted be fore pu b lic act ion is tak en .
The chem ist ha s a dearl y defined responsibi lity to h is emplo yer. H e m ust contribute.
and he must be loyal. O bviously, th e chem ist-employee will he in d ustri ous , see king to do
more than th e min imum work he is assigned. H e is a lso obliga ted to learn about his em ploycr'v prot-esses. hi s p lans for the Futu re , his prob lems. admin istrat ive proced ures . and
particu lar way of doing bu siness, in order to cont r ib u te effect ively and efficie n tl y to the
welfare of hi .. emplo yer.
Fu rth er. he will hold the in forma tio n concern ing h is emp lo yer's private p lan s and
technica l work in confide nce. Since he ha s learned t hese thing.. as a n agent o f h is employer.
he has no ri ght . excep t b y proper legal professes, to d ivu lge t his informat io n to others who
wo u ld use it to th e d isadva ntage o f hi s employer. Th is o bliga tion ho lds even after h is
em p loyment has been termi nated . although it i s certa in ly proper to u sc all such pr ivate
information , leg iti matel y acq u ire d, as pa rt of h is per sonal p ro fessiona l exper ien ce. I n addi t ion , it is u nct hica l to with hold , for fu tu re perso nal be nefit , au idea of one 's own th at the
em ployer llIay ri gh tfull y ex peel to be used to hi s ad van tage . O f co urse, the ch em ist has
th e r igh t to usc, for h is person al gain, any infor m ation or id ea he has leg itimately acq u ire d
b u t wh ich l ies ou tside th c ter ms of the em plo yme nt con tract . It is p r u den t, however, to
LJc con serva tive in these ma tt ers .
w hen . d ur ing the da ily work, d ifferences o f o pin ion ar-ise b et ween the ch em ist and
h is emplo yer, the ch em ist will try to re solve t he m pat ien tly a nd tactf u ll y. H e will , in effect,
seek the welfare of hi s employer as th ough it were h is o wn .
T he re spo nsibi lity of a go od chemist to ward his fel low wor kers can be su m m ed up in
1I1e\C words: rc spect , loyalt y. an d contri b u t ion. Ever y man i~ all ind ivid ual and is en titl ed
10 the respect o f oth er s. T he inexperienced chemist, in part icu lar, w ill listen to th e suggcstions o f h is fell o w worke rs , whet he r they be 0 11 chem ica l p roblem s or rel ated to ot her
subjects , whether they be voiced by a chem ist or by a non -chem ist.
T h e ch em ist is solic itous o f the ph ysical welfa re o f hi s fello w workers and follows safe
practiccs in the laboratory. H e ex presscs h is consid cration for others b y keep in g h is work
' p:KC neat , hy encou ragin g h i.. su bor d ina tes to improve th em selves, and b y refra in ing from
be littl ing gossip COl Kerning h is su bor d inates. su pe rvisors. and Fellow workers. H e does no t
tak e unfai r ad va ntage of ot hers in seek in g h i.. own advancement . I n shor t , he recognizes
hi s responsibil ity to promote ph ysical and social harmon y in the organization of which
he is a part.
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T he chemist ,su p port s h is professiona l society 'b y mcmbcrship , b y part icipation at
meeti ngs, an d by ac tivit y in co nun iu ces and ot her functioning bod ies. H e recogn izes h is
obligat ion, whe n commitmen ts to his employe r wi ll allow, to p u bl ish the re sults of h is
scienti fic work in the tech n ical journals or at me etings of his socie ty, and no t elsewhere.
In such p ublicat ions, he is alwa ys careful to g ive credi ts to ot hers who have contribu ted to
the success of hi s work .
Above all else, he never assum es cred it for a d iscover y tha t p roperly belongs to an other
scien t ist. T o acce p t un due credit is desp icabl e, for it means that he has sto len , not fo r
mo neta ry ga in (which is bad enough) , but for thc appro bation of o thers (wh ich is far worse} .
The pract ice of chem istry, the n , is a profession . And the d ist in ctive character ist ic o f
a pro fession is its ob ligat ion to serve. Che mists, the refore, are ste ward s; they are cus tod ians
and seekers o f kn o wledge ; they arc servan ts o f h u man ity. Beca use they are pro fessional
men , they will fin d a certain joy ill d oing more than the minimu m req u ired in their rel atio nships wit h socie ty, with their employer , an d wi th their fellow scie nt ists.
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