Question: Do you think your work will save any lives ?

James Sullivan answered on 7 Nov 2014:

Hi Joanna,
Thanks for this question.
My work is not in the medical field, but rather in limiting and controlling pollution and generating replacements for fossil fuel power sources.
Hundreds of thousands of people worldwide (even in Europe) die from effects related to breathing polluted air, and my work directly affects this. So I guess you could say the development of cleaner exhaust emissions saves lives.
Regarding the replacements of fossil fuels it would be hoped that his might go some way to halting the greenhouse effect – and therefore prevent or minimise the damage predicted to come from global warming. So again yes.
Other chemists work with synthesising pharmaceuticals to combat infection or treat cancers – they would say their work is directly involved in saving lives.
I hope this helps.