From the Editor

doi:10.1515/ci.2012.34.1.ii

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From the Editor

Published/Copyright: January 1, 2012

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From the journal Chemistry International -- Newsmagazine for IUPAC Volume 34 Issue 1

From the Editor

This year is a turning point in IUPAC history, which is reflected in the composition of this year’s Bureau—the responsible body directly below the Council. For the first time, the Bureau counts eight women among its members, the greatest number of women on record: three elected members (out of 10), three Division presidents (out of eight), one standing committee chair (out of three), plus the Union’s past president (i.e., one officer out of five).

This surely is a nice coincidence, with the efforts put forth in 2011 during the International Year of Chemistry to celebrate the contributions of women in science worldwide. For IUPAC, this is a long-overdue transformation. Who knows, we may remember it as a legacy of IYC. In this very column, in July 2005, I marveled that IUPAC had not had a woman president yet, and at that point in its history only a couple of division presidents had been women. While, admittedly, IUPAC is not setting a trend, it is rather pleasing to see that this is a development broadly experienced in chemistry communities worldwide.

With this new year, IUPAC enters a new biennium in which the baton will be passed to new officers who will, invariably, set the sails in new directions while safeguarding the course of ongoing projects. In the following column, President Kazuyuki Tatsumi presents his views of the Union and the tasks before him. Then, in the third feature article, one can browse the first series of committee and division reports following their most recent meeting at the 2011 General Assembly in San Juan.

Despite what is planned and written, a new year is symbolically an opportunity to innovate and to question the establishment. With four goals clearly set by the president—coping with the world’s needs, increasing IUPAC visibility and relevance, reforming IUPAC, and planning for the future—the opportunities are plentiful for volunteers to come forward, step in, and contribute. So, may this year be the year you voice your idea!

Wishing you all the best for 2012.

Fabienne Meyers

fabienne@iupac.org

Cover: Triple quadrupole mass spectrometer used for liquid chromatography isotope dilution mass spectrometry (image supplied by LGC, courtesy of Andrew Brookes, www.abstill.co.uk). See the feature “Making Measurement Matter."

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Published Online: 2012-01-01

Published in Print: 2012-01

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https://doi.org/10.1515/ci.2012.34.1.ii