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Karplus on protein molecular dynamics (1977), and so on (Todd 1983,
Williams 1990). Quite a few small start-up companies banked on the
public taste for natural products, for instance, in the form of herbal over-
the-counter drugs (Anon. 1999).
The 1970s had opened with the first oil crisis. This geopolitical event
made political leaders seek alternative energy sources. The chemical pro-
fession followed the money. Since grants were awarded for work on al-
ternative energy sources and environmental issues, chemists started work
in such areas. They became environmentally conscious (Baird 1995) and
started cleaning-up their operation, whether in industrial plants or in aca-
demic laboratories. Everybody became safety-conscious, and pollution of
the environment became drastically curtailed (Ember 1991, Rodrick
1992, McGinn 2000).
7.
The 1980s: Mystique of Growth
I will now, in some detail, document my assertion of the intoxication by
growth for its own sake, basing myself on the Pimentel Report (PR), first
published in 1985 by the American Chemical Society (Pimentel & Coon-
rod 1987).
An illustration in PR shows, as a small icon of spectroscopic pro-
gress, the improvement in sensitivity of nuclear magnetic resonance
spectrometry. In only 15 years, the solid-state 13 C spectrum of adaman-
tane, with only two types of carbons, CH and CH 2 , had turned from inac-
cessibility to an easy routine. Such solid-state 13 C spectra became impor-
tant diagnostic tools for the chemical industry in the areas of polymers,
whether as elastomers, textile fibers, or plastics such as polypropylene.
However, if NMR spectrometers improved considerably in perform-
ance, their cost increased likewise. A graph in the Pimentel Report de-
picts these twin trends: the increase of NMR spectrometers in magnetic
field strength, thereby in resolution, in sensitivity, and in cost. Chemists
in the 1980s were clamoring for increased public support from granting
agencies, such as the National Science Foundation and the National Insti-
tutes of Health, and battling with one another for grants from those agen-
cies. Instrumentation was costly across the board, a cost-quality diagram
in PR made the same point for mass spectrometry. Half-a-million dollars
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