Back in the day (well 1995) I created one of the first chemistry websites – Elemental Discoveries – it was a spinoff of my news column for the RSC’s young chemists’ print magazine New Elements (a name I coined to replace the old Gas Jar). Anyway, Elemental Discoveries was essentially a chemistry blog before Jorn Barger even coined the full neologism weblog on 17th December 1997; contracted to ‘blog and thence blog.
Obviously, being such a pioneer, such an early adopter, such an all-round ahead of the crowd smart arse isn’t easy. But, I can now reveal my secret. When I was studying chemistry I accidentally discovered a new chemical element (hence the name of my blog Elemental Discoveries), that element was element 0, the element that was there before all the other elements. I must have inhaled a whiff of this stuff, which exists in all phases of matter simultaneously – solid, liquid, gas, plasma, quasicrystal, Bose-Einstein condensate etc etc. Just that one whiff was enough to send my head spinning with innovative ideas and trend-setting powers. Thankfully, it was not quite enough to trigger me into wearing tartan trousers and faux National Health glasses…