It’s here! Real Time Chem week. An opportunity for chemists around the world to connect via Twitter and the hashtag #RealTimeChem.
It’s a little reminiscent of the hashtag #OverlyHonestMethods that went crazy for a while earlier in the year. The differences are that it’s specific to chemistry and is planned in advance. Chemists globally simply tweet thoughts or snapshots of what they are doing right now. Others can see that being a chemist is both lab work and office work. It’s writing and reviewing papers. #RealTimeChem is a chance for the rest of the world to catch a glimpse of what the daily lives of real chemists are like.
In fact, people are tweeting right now using the hashtag. I myself tweet regularly with that hashtag. For example:
Powdered ~90 million year old fish scale. The first step toward isotopic analysis. #RealTimeChem twitter.com/paleololigo/st…
— Penny Higgins (@paleololigo) April 16, 2013
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsOr:
Mass spectrometer is linear. Time to go drop acid. paleopix.com/blog/2013/03/2… #RealTimeChem
— Penny Higgins (@paleololigo) April 16, 2013
I enjoy posting to #RealTimeChem. It’s my chance to really be a chemist. I feel a little removed from the chemistry community because I do mostly geochemistry. I keep away from synthesis and strangely named chemicals and instead focus on isotopic analysis. What I do is chemistry, but the implications are geological (and biological). I work in a geology department. I teach geology classes. It’s easy to forget that I actually have a Master’s Degree in Chemistry.
I’ll be tweeting too. And I’ll be blogging a bit. I’ll blog about how I do chemistry differs from how other chemists do chemistry. There will be pictures. And fun. I hope you’ll enjoy!
Penny Higgins - Storyteller • Artist • Scientist 