Shout-out To Industrial Chemists

I’d like to thank Larry Lewis for his letter to the editor (C&EN, March 25, page 4). I, too, have worked the bench for more than 30 years and am a longtime ACS member. I have not seen the science and creativity of the industrial chemist featured in C&EN, except, perhaps, in relation to the drug industry.

I have had the great privilege of working with some of the finest chemical scientists. However, despite their achievements in creating new and better products, process improvements, and in general making a company more profitable, they have not been heralded in C&EN. Honoring academic scientists and businesspeople is all well and good, but what about the majority of ACS members?

I understand that it would be difficult for C&EN reporters to write about the science created in industrial labs if it is not published research. We are generally not allowed to publish our in-house discoveries. But there are patents. And there are articles published in trade journals.

By my own nonscientific survey, most industrial chemists do not believe that ACS membership is for the industrial scientist but rather for those who work in academia or business. I hope my colleagues are wrong and the lack of acknowledgment is just an oversight that C&EN will correct.

Louis Rebrovic
Sidney, Ohio