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| September 2005 |
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Shinichiro Nakamura, PhD
General Manager, Computational Science Laboratory, R&D Division
Mitsubishi Chemical Group Science and Technology Research Center, Inc. |
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We see things, only when we look at it. It seems that we cannot distinguish between what we dreamed and what we saw. Although we, members of computational science laboratory, contribute to R&D being behind hard working experimental researchers, our mission is to try to give numbers on dreams. The messages and signals spoken by experimental data, we try to do theoretical study or simulation, in an attempt to figure out an alternative picture.
We have begun with a study of transition metal catalysis design by using ab-initio molecular orbital method. This subject provides, still today, more of difficult problems for computational studies. Subjects include battery materials design, pharmaceutical modeling, photonics materials design, and polymer designs. We need to use also variety of methods, quantum mechanical methods, nano- and meso- simulations, neural net analysis, and chaos-fractal analysis.
Since the computational research looks so fundamental, people might think that we had better stay in academia instead of industrial researches, however, pioneers in Europe, US and Asian advanced researchers rather realized themselves in industrial area. So were my experiences. It is difficult to imagine in an academic laboratory that quantum chemists, first-principles researchers and process simulation expert members work together. It is natural for us, because we must adjust ourselves to the subjects, but not to select the subjects as a function of tools that we have. As a metaphor, the classification of each specialist is nothing but an illusion of human being, if you have eyes of molecules and atoms.
Therefore, we must learn every subject in every moment, and we must apply any method if needed. Each time when a new method appears, a new difficult experimental fact also appears, thus there is no place where we can eventually live a peaceful life. This can be a bitter life, depending on yourself, if you believe that you are born to be a researcher, this is nirvana.
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