Vol. 115 No. 4 (2019)

Fruto de la amistad que nos une, Miguel Ángel Sierra me ha pedido a mí también que escriba un articulo para esta sección.

2019 marks 40 years since the Nobel Prize was awarded to chemistry Professor Herbert C. Brown (1912-2004), who focused much of his research on boron (B) chemistry. Specifically, he made many efforts in the study of hydroboration reactions of olefins, transformations that have proven their effectiveness and usefulness since its discovery. The following communication summarizes the most important advances since 1959 (60 years ago) and future perspectives of this reaction are analyzed.

 This article sets out the main characteristics (development, bases, participation, evaluation ...) of the “Our periodic table” school competition, convened by the Spanish Royal Societies of Physics and Chemistry to promote the relevance of the periodic table and its appli- cations and contribution to society, among non-University Spanish students, in the context of the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements. The contest had a wide response (200 proposals from all the autonomous communities), showing a lot of enthusiasm by the students and teachers involved, as well as important doses of creativity.

Keywords: school competitions, STEAM education, motivation, periodic table

In order to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the arrival of man on the Moon, we want to highlight the importance of chemistry for making this trip a success and how chemistry has been, and continues to be, an important science in the work of NASA. Chemists and chemical engineers have played and, continue to play, an essential role in space travel, and in turn, the search for solutions to fine-tune these trips has meant a great development of the chemical industry in all its aspects, improving daily life in multiple fields for its applications.

This article glosses the scientific personality of Professor Richard A. Andersen (1942-2019) and describes some of his most relevant contributions to the inorganic and organometallic chemistry of the lanthanide and actinide elements. The paper also illustrates the scientific collaborations that Andersen developed with renowned European researchers, and in particular his personal and professional links with Spanish organometallic chemists, including the author.

Keywords: Lantánidos, actínidos, compuestos organometálicos, compuestos de coordinación.

All the references indicate that the first mention in Spanish to the Mendeleiev’s Periodic Table was published in the textbook “Tratado Elemental de Química General y Descriptiva” (Basic Treatise on General and Descriptive Chemistry), by Santiago Bonilla Mirat (1844-1899), in its first edition of 1880. However, Bonilla is largely unknown by the public and by the Spanish speaking scientific community. This article includes his first portrait published since the xix century, as well as biographic data from the original sources. The aim of this work is to raise awareness of this fascinating person and his work.