Question: What is your favourite substance solid liquid or gas ?

Having been trained in solid-state chemistry and having worked in catalysis, it should be no surprise I favour the solid state. It was one of the things that brought me into chemistry, the natural harmony of crystalline forms, their range and variation, enhanced only more as I learned about the logic and laws that led to such structures. The most delightful order formed from chaos through freezing, precipitation and sublimation as the ions and molecules danced, paired, aligned. There was wonder in watching a super-saturated solution crystalise in an instant with just a scratch or a seed. However, through study and work on catalysis I’ve learned to appreciate the dynamic anarchy of amorphous forms, and that true beauty lies not in perfection, but in subtle imperfection, applied in the right way, in the right places, to the right degree. Remove an atom here, add an atom there, change an atom over there and acquire the beauties of both form and function, nature and artifice.