This paper will focus on one specific aspect of chemistry which has deeply shaped the its public image : the ambition to create life in a laboratory. The competition between the laboratory and the creator of life is a mythical image (Faust, Frankestein) rooted in the alchemical tradition. was still the hardcore of literary portraits of chemists in the early 19<sup>th</sup> century. This image which has created an association of chemistry with witchcraft, magics and charlatanerie has travelled through the centuries. In the 18<sup>th</sup> century the public image of chemistry has radically changed thanks to many sucessful and useful products issued from the chemistry laboratories. Chemistry  came to be celebrated as a useful science, contributing to public welfare and  the wealth of nations. Chemists were no longer perceived as dangerous people. Rather they became respectable professionals enjoying social recognition, often being in charge of political responsibilities. However the development of synthetic chemistry and more recently of synthetic biology revived the competition between chemistry and life. One purpose of this paper is to help understand how it turned out that the term “synthetic” became synonym of “chemical” and the antonym of natural or organics in the popular language.

Changing images of chemistry in the public

253rd National Meeting (2017)

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.