A question-answer session with Pierre Braunstein. This is taken from the page "Other Information"
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• My favorite subjects at school …ranged from Latin to sciences, with an increasing emphasis on the latter
• I chose chemistry as a career because … I enjoyed the subject, its relevance to everyday life, and its versatility.
• When I wake up I … prepare breakfast and rush to the lab.
• When I was eighteen I wanted to be … a chemist because I had just started my first year in the Ecole Nationale Superieure de Chimie de Mulhouse from which I graduated.
• The most significant scientific advance of the last 100 years has been … the atomic and molecular understanding of matter.
• The biggest problem that scientists face is … to generate public and political awareness and understanding (at least to some extent) of science and of its essential role.
• The biggest challenge facing scientists is … to continue to deliver solutions.
• My favorite piece of research is … Sorry, when you have many children, you love them all!
• The most important future applications of my research are … Any answer would be pretty conceited! If it has contributed to the advancement of our scientific knowledge, to the training of students and young scientists, and has inspired a few people, I would feel very pleased.
• My first experiment was… at home, as a teenager, playing with acids and bases from a chemistry kit, and as a PhD student, making the first complexes containing Pt-Mo and Pd-Mo bonds.
• In a nutshell, my research involves … the synthesis of new molecules and understanding their structures and properties.
• The most exciting thing about my research is … that it is never boring.
• The secret of being a successful scientist is … to follow your intuition, work hard, and remain enthusiastic about what you do.
• The part of my job which I enjoy the most is … to discuss unexpected results with my co-workers and colleagues.