Throughout the last 100 years, science has fragmented into a mess of various disciplines, most of which overlap each other. This section attempts to clear up and organize the various scientific kingdoms and phyla one topic at a time. This is only an attempt, as the distinctions among the fields are always debatable. This month we deal with the interface between physics and chemistry. The broad field of chemistry can be separated into two relatively distinct groups:

1. Synthesis of chemicals: This can include analytical chemistry and hands-on laboratory research. This field is closely related to chemical engineering in that engineers can use the reactions that scientists have developed in order to mass-produce chemicals.
2. Structure and properties of matter: includes aspects of biochemistry, theoretical chemistry (based on mathematical derivations), and inorg:nic (non-Carbon) chemistry. It also can include physical chemistry/chemical physics. The main difference between chemical physics and physical chemistry is that the respective field concentrates on the noun in its name, i.e., "physical chemistry" is the term that chemists are likely to use if their research is on the interface of physics and chemistry.

Of course, most of the sub-fields of chemistry can be classified in both groups. Anything that uses non-trivial computer power and that deals with chemistry can be classified as computational chemistry. Computational chemistry includes a broad range of both theoretical and experimental topics. For examples, both quantification of molecular properties using quantum mechanics and simulations describing the folding of proteins in cancer cells can be classified as computational chemistry.

The northeastern corner of the New Physics Building is the home of the Quantum Theory Project. This diverse group of excellent professors and students generally concentrates on computational chemistry. However, as previously stated, computational chemistry can involve both mathematically intensive and theoretical topics as well as the research areas related to more-applied disciplines, such as biochemistry or biological physics.