There are just some events in business that really make a difference to the industry – I expect this to be one of those events. On the 11th May the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK) acquired Chemspider – it’s worth taking some time to read the Press Release on this. This news in its own right is special as the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) has for decades promoted Chemistry within the United Kingdom (UK) and out into the global community with an ever expanding worldwide community of members. RSC’s mission is “to be the most effective organization for the advancement of the chemical sciences” and that of Chemspider’s “Intention is to introduce innovative scientific software technologies that can be of value to academia and to chemical, pharmaceutical and biotech companies around the world.” This shared mission of delivering chemistry to the community makes this true partnership of equals in our community and one to be promoted, enhanced and furthered as much as possible. Provide your support by using and contributing to the environment and commenting on topics and blogs of interest to you.
I guess you might say that this acquisition sort of gives Chemspider aka Antony Williams a “Chemical Royal Seal of Approval in Chemistry Search Space” in a metaphorical sense. A justified end goal for the years of thought, passion, patience, endurance and commitment.
For anyone wanting to challenge legality on the use of this statement – please accept that my use of this is not to imply or otherwise indicate that this happened, will happen or expected (of course always something to strive for), in any literal sense. Any reference in my use Yahoo’s video of the Royal Seal of Approval for Google does not indicate any way business or other relationships or interests between any mentioned parties. (Interesting posting of such a video though).
Antony Williams is extremely passionate about the quality and accuracy of structural chemistry and serving chemistry out to the community as a free resource for scientists globally. His investment personally has been immense with long hours invested in structural curation in the world of chemistry for Wikipedia and for Chemspider as a whole. Whereas, many structural environments can be considered as somewhat stale and static environments, Chemspider’s mission to have the community contribute to the quality of its content, by online curation, has given us a living breathing world of chemical space information. Anyone interested in Chemistry really should have this as a bookmark or Favorites web link in their Web Explorers.
On a personal note I applaud both the RSC and Antony Williams for making this happen and for ensuring a commitment to continue to grow our chemical space community. Please keep this going, it is an amazing resource.
Mark Bayliss
(Ph.D., B.Sc., MRSC CChem) for the complete title and affiliations (MRSC CChem – Chartered Member of the Royal Society of Chemistry)