What’s going on here?
Over the past several decades, chemistry as a hobby has fallen from grace. Instead of a noble, interesting, healthy realm of inquiry, chemistry is now viewed with mistrust and fear by most people. In the United States, chemical hobbyists are now assumed to be only interested in drugs and explosives and face the risk of investigation by three-lettered government agencies. This environment of fear and mistrust is a terrible thing for both the science of chemistry and humanity as a whole.
The causes for this fall from grace are many, and while most of the causes of this fall are unwarranted, some of them were caused by the chemical industry and chemical hobbyists themselves.
ChemHacker is my humble attempt to bring chemistry back into the hands of hobbyists. I’ll be posting instructions for beginners, my own experimental notes, highlighting interesting research, highlighting useful equipment and methods, and discussing the fascinating realm of chemistry in general.
Who am I?
I am Sacha DeAngeli, I hold a masters’ degree in chemical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. I am currently the president of Pumping Station: One, Chicago’s preeminent hackerspace. I have experienced chemistry as a technician, a researcher, an entrepreneur, and a hobbyist.
Until next time,
ChemHacker
