Advanced Catalysts: Interfaces in the Physical and Biological Sciences

Review: The presidential address to the chemistry section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BAAS) to be given in Sheffield in September, by John M. Thomas (see picture) concentrates on the roles that catalysts play in chemical synthesis both in industry and in a biological environment. The future of catalysts rests in the hands of interdisciplinary scientists and engineers who, when faced with the problem of developing a new catalytic system, can call upon experience from such diverse fields as solid state physics and biology.