UN declares 2011 as International Year of Chemistry

The 63rd General Assembly of the United Nations has adopted a resolution proclaiming 2011 as International Year of Chemistry, placing UNESCO and the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) at the helm of the event.

Ethiopia submitted the U.N. resolution calling for the Year, which will celebrate the achievements of chemistry and its contributions to the well-being of humanity. The Year will also draw attention to the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2005-2014. National and international activities carried out during 2011 will emphasize the importance of chemistry in sustaining natural resources.

Chemistry is fundamental to our understanding of the world and the cosmos. Moreover, molecular transformations are central to the production of food, medicines, fuel, and countless manufactured and extracted products. Through the Year, the world will celebrate the art and science of chemistry, and its essential contributions to knowledge, to environmental protection and to economic development.

"The International Year of Chemistry will give a global boost to chemical science in which our life and our future are grounded. We hope to increase the public appreciation and understanding of chemistry, increase young people's interest in science, and generate enthusiasm for the creative future of chemistry," declared the President of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), Professor Jung-Il Jin.

"I welcome the opportunity to celebrate chemistry, one of the fundamental sciences," said the Director-General of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura. "Raising public awareness about chemistry is all the more important in view of the challenges of sustainable development. It is certain that chemistry will play a major role in developing alternative energy sources and in feeding the world's growing population," he added.

The year 2011, the 100th anniversary of the award of the Nobel Prize in chemistry to Mme Maria Sklodowska Curie, will also provide an opportunity to celebrate the contribution of women to science. The Year also marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the International Association of Chemical Societies (IACS), which was succeeded by IUPAC a few years later. IACS and IUPAC were established to address the needs for international scientific communication and cooperation among chemists by standardizing nomenclature and terminology.

In 2007, the IUPAC Council unanimously endorsed the plan to obtain the proclamation of 2011 as the International Year of Chemistry. Less than a year later, UNESCO's Executive Board recommended the adoption of such a resolution which was submitted by Ethiopia and agreed to support all efforts leading the UN General Assembly to declare 2011 the International Year of Chemistry.

Source: IUPAC