Often the results were startling. Problems were anticipated as a result of consumption of limited resources, pollution of air, water, and land, destruction of ecosystems and habitat, increasing poverty and famine, and other environmental or social issues. In 1970 this was a striking way to point out that rates of change were accelerating and that change is not necessarily beneficial. With the year 2000 on our doorstep, it is appropriate to revisit the 1960s and 1970s, looking for milestones that mark not only problems but also progress. A little reflection reveals that chemistry has contributed to alleviating many of the problems, and substantial progress has been made in chemistry and chemical education.
Instrumentation now plays a far more important role.
When I was an undergraduate, my student colleagues and I complained that we were not permitted to use the department's brand new IR spectrophotometer to help solve our qual organic unknowns. When I was a graduate student, the department's one NMR instrument was operated by a faculty member and reserved for research. In this issue there is a paper about pervasive incorporation of NMR throughout an undergraduate curriculum. Many other instruments that were to be found only in a few research labs in 1965 are now essential to the education of undergraduates. These conferences have grown steadily, attracting well over 1000 attendees in each of the past few years.