Tag: science

A Tribute to Jean-Claude Bradley, Chemist, Open Science Proponent, A True Gentleman

Image of Open Notebook Science sign
Open Notebook Science

Tomorrow is the memorial service for Jean-Claude Bradley. If you are in the area it will be held Saturday June 28 at 6:00 p.m. Boulevard SDA Church, 8441 Roosevelt Blvd, Philadelphia, PA 19115.

If you are in science or librarianship and haven’t heard of him Jean-Claude Bradley was a gifted chemist best know for his commitment to doing Open Notebook Science. Others have written eloquent posts about his skills as a mentor and his devotion to open science.

I first met Jean-Claude in 2011 when I attended the annual Science Online unconference. It was one of the first professional events I attended after leaving industry as a chemist and becoming a chemistry librarian. Although I only met him a few times his courage to take a stand and do what he thought should be done in the face of opposition has inspired me to do the same. Like many who attend Science Online he was a maverick; a rock star of the open science movement, consistently sharing his work and advocating for others to do the same. Chemist might be interested in his open melting point data set in which his team determined melting points for 27,000 substances. Serious scholars may wonder how all this impacted his work as a chemist. According to Google Scholar he has received approximately 1500+ citations, 766 of which occurred from 2009 through the present. At the time of his death his Google Plus page indicated his research interests to be:

Currents projects focus on open collections and open modeling of solubility and melting point data. Applications include drug and reaction discovery, the and the creation of an app to recommend solvents for recrystallization, created in collaboration with Andrew Lang.

While all of these things are great, I will always remember him best for his kindness to others. He was always willing to talk to anyone regardless of how old they were, or their status as a student or professional. His accomplishments as a researcher, open science proponent, easy manner and approachability made him one of the scientists that I admire the most. May we all be more open in memory of Jean-Claude.

SciPop Talks! Meet us at the Intersection of Science and Pop Culture

#SciPopTalks

SciPop Talks Schedule of Events Image
SciPop Talks Schedule of Events

One of my favorite reasons for not having time to post here is our new SciPop Talks! series hosted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries in collaboration with the UNL Department of Chemistry and Doane College.

Check out this great Storify of Dr. Raychelle Burks’ talk on how to survive the Zombie Apocalypse. Video coming soon by popular demand! In the meantime fight smarter not harder and check out the webpage for her talk for related books, movies, links, and more!

Below is a quick video ACS Reactions made with Raychelle based on her talk.

The Mark Griep’s talk on Alien Biochemistry in the Movies even includes an interview with an attendee. Check out the webpage for related materials including Dr. Griep’s book ReAction! Chemistry in the Movies.

There are two questions everyone seems to want to know the answer to. Are the talks successful and how did they come about? So far we’ve have four talks and 200+ attendees! (Note I did not count library staff and student workers, or journalists, in this number.)

The talks came about mainly because we finally had the right group of people at the right time. Rebecca Lai and Raychelle Burks organize the speakers, Joanie Barnes organizes the space, library support, and publicity. I primarily organize the webpage, books for checkout display. We all brainstorm what to do next, how we can tie other outreach events into future outreach activities, what’s working and what’s not. All of us are well connected but with very different networks. Interestingly I am the only person who knew all the individuals before this project started.

In many ways this is a prime example of what I do, connecting people with the same interests and passions, this time is unique in that for once I stayed involved. Usually the people I connect are working on projects outside my scope and/or areas of interest. You never really know what the future will bring, but you put together four very driven people and that odds are in your favor. We’re already planning on who else we need to collaborate with on campus, Office of Research and Economic Development for one, to capitalize on our momentum to do some serious science outreach and education.