Chemistry: A Volatile History Chemistry: A Volatile History Chemistry: A Volatile History is a 2010 BBC documentary on the history of chemistry presented by Jim Al-Khalili. It was nominated for the 2010 British Academy Television Awards in the category Specialist Factual. Only in the last 200 years have we known what an element is – a substance that cannot be broken down further by chemical reaction. The Ancient Greeks, with no way of breaking open substances, could only base their ideas of the elements on what they could see: Earth, Fire, Water and Air. In the 16th century alchemists were busy trying to turn
Comparison of chemistry and physics Statistics (United States Department of Labor), there are 80,000 chemists and 17,000 physicists working in the United States as of May 2010. In addition, 21,000 chemists and 13,500 physicists teach in high school. Chemistry is the only science that has an entire industry, the chemical industry, named after it, and many chemists work in this industry, in research and development, production, training, or management. Other industries employing chemists include the petroleum, pharmaceutical, and food industry. While there is no industry named after physics, many industries have grown out of physics research, most notably the semiconductor and electronics industry. Physicists are