CCL: Computational Chemistry - Arm chair Scientists !!!

[lerouvin:loria.fr]

 Sent to CCL by: lerouvin[*]loria.fr
 Hi Soumya,
Well as a {theoretical/computational chemist / molecular modeler /
 bioinformatician / pick whatever you like} I was sometimes told as
 being "disconnected from reality" when I tackled some complex
 tasks
 involving coding during extended periods of time... Well I probably
 looked like one of those "armchair scientists" glued to the
 chair in
 front of the computer indeed, so no offense... I always took remarks
 that I was spending too much time "on the dark side" as
 useful
 reminders that I should never be careless with validation.
Colleagues more versed on the experimental side of chemistry might as
 well try to perform synthesis projects so time-consuming, complex and
 exotic that they end up looking like "mad professors" - the
 movie type
 always ready to attempt ramdom and often disastrous experiments in a
 creepy basement. If you spot one that dared to call you an
 "armchair
 scientist" in the past, then it's payback time  ;-)
 VL
"Soumya Samineni soumya_samineni-#-rediffmail.com"
 <owner-chemistry++ccl.net> a écrit :
>  Sent to CCL by: "Soumya  Samineni" [soumya_samineni|*|rediffmail.com]
>  Dear all,
>    With the ever increasing computational power, there has been an
>  enormous growth in the theoretical/computational chemistry (
>  personally i feel the word "Theoretical Chemistry" has been
>  abused
>  by considering it as an alternative word for "Computational
>  chemsitry" by people practising computational chemistry). while
>  people doing computational chemistry are also growing like mushrooms
>   and the volume of pages occupied by it has also exploded, the
>  number  of people doing the theoretical chemistry (analytical) is
>  dwindling  with time.
>    Any ways: It would be nice to hear comments from the leading (and
>  novice) experts of computational and theoretical chemistry regarding
>   the general feeling of the experimental community (who consider
>  that  they toil pretty hard physically for every bit of the sentence
>  they  write .. ) that we are "Arm chair scientists", who like
>  to
>  quench  our thirst for science sitting before a computer all through
>  the day  and gulping loads of liquids !!
>  I hope a small debate would make things more clear.
>  regards
>  Soumya