The Chemists Invent Green campaign celebrates inventors who use chemistry to solve global challenges and provide society with greener technologies and products. Follow along as we release stories of amazing inventors, followed by the release of our new Green Chemistry Invention Education guide.
chemists invent green
These inspiring green chemistry inventors demonstrate the traits and dispositions common for successful invention.
Creativity
Calculated Risk Taking
Curiosity
Resourceful
Ambiguity and Complexity
Empathy
Resilience
Passion
From oceans plastics to global warming, today’s sustainability challenges require innovative, sustainable solutions. Chemistry is at the center of these solutions.
Inventing is not simple – it requires failure, teamwork, creativity and the list goes on! Using inventive traits and dispositions as a framework, we share stories of inventors from diverse backgrounds who use chemistry to invent solutions for a sustainable future.
inventive traits and dispositions
Creativity
Ability to pair things in an unexpected way to reveal potential
Calculated Risk-Taking
Conservation of energy to minimize unnecessary exposures
Curiosity
Alertness to practical problems and opportunities; focusing on both overarching systems and micro-components
Resourceful
Seeks solutions with available resources and ways to increase resources
Ambiguity and Complexity
Comfort working on the margins of established knowledge, becoming immersed in multi-layered problem set
Empathy
Listens to and understands a variety of perspectives, the ability to understand the challenges of others
Resilience
Embraces failure, ability to work towards delayed gratification, critical stance towards their own work
Passion
Optimistic commitment to vision coupled with flexibility to achieve desired end result.
"Is there a model of what it means to be an inventor? Does a young child see that path? What opportunities are we losing because we’re not illustrating that path and if the crisis of sustainability lies in the domain of invention, we need more inventors…"
- John Warner testifying at the House Science Committee's Research and Technology Subcommittee hearing Benign by Design: Innovations in Sustainable Chemistry.
