Click chemistry – hvad er den bedste form for undervisning?

Hjerne-Madsen (Anders Peter Lund Madsen) havde Morten Meldal på besøg.

It just says click – and the molecules are coupled together

https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/2022/press-release/

5. October 2022

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2022 to

Carolyn R. Bertozzi
Stanford University, CA, USA

Morten Meldal
University of Copenhagen, Denmark

K. Barry Sharpless
Scripps Research, La Jolla, CA, USA

I udsendelsen forklarede Morten Meldal i et forståeligt sprog hvad det var, der havde udløst en Nobel-pris: klik-kemi, — click-chemistry.

Det var nysgerrighed, ikke karriere ambitioner, som havde drevet den 68-årige professor i kemi gennem hele livet, han elskede at gå i laboratoriet. Et problem med en Nobel pris var, sagde han, at så blev hans daglige rytme brudt, og det kunne blive vanskeligt med blot én dag om ugen i laboratoriet.

Rekrutering af næsten generation optog ham også meget. Undervisning er vigtigt – hvorfor er der ikke så mange, der søger ind på kemi-studierne?

For at gøre undervisningen bedre foreslog han visualisering – og en af de mest overraskende ting i udsendelsen var at man faktisk i dag kan kontrollere vores modeller af molekyler ved forskellige målemetoder som “visualiserer” – danner billeder – af molekyle-strukturer, se fx. illustration i Wikipedia artikel om atomic force microscopy.

Meldal foreslog også at man fra første klasse gav de små mennesker 10 minutters undervisning/snak om kemi, og som eksempel foreslog han “plastic”, illustreret med de affalds-øer af brugt plastic, som hober sig op i hvirvler nogle steder i oceanerne.

—oooOOOooo—

Jeg er bekymret for denne måde at tale om ting uden at gå omkring den historiske vej, hvordan mennesket gjorde naturvidenskabelige opdagelser – ved observationer, som har større significans i henseende til fysik, kemi og dermed ontologi, videnskaben om væren.

Sagt på en mere firkantet måde: Kemi-undervisning bør begynde med opdagelse af grundstofferne, guld, sølv, og senere kul, ilt, brint, kobber, jern, silicium, bly, uran, …

De græske filosoffer havde “kun” jord, vand, luft og ild, men opdagede jo hurtigt at fx. jord består af mange forskellige ting. Min fysik-lærer havde skrevet lærebøger i kemi og fysik, hvor han gik imod den trend, der er med at begynde en kemibog med en forsimpling af Bohrs atom-model.

in chemical synthesis, click chemistry is a class of simple, atom-economy reactions commonly used for joining two molecular entities of choice. Click chemistry is not a single specific reaction, but describes a way of generating products that follow examples in nature, which also generates substances by joining small modular units. In many applications, click reactions join a biomolecule and a reporter molecule. Click chemistry is not limited to biological conditions: the concept of a “click” reaction has been used in chemoproteomic, pharmacological, and various biomimetic applications. However, they have been made notably useful in the detection, localization and qualification of biomolecules.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Click_chemistry

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Morten Meldal omtalte de mange fremskridt, der er gjort med mikroskopi af forskellig slags, her blot ét eksempel:

Chemists in Europe can now snap images of single molecules that are so sharp you can not only see the individual atoms within the molecule, but also make out the electrons that bond the atoms together.

https://cosmosmagazine.com/technology/what-does-an-electron-cloud-really-look-like/

—oooOOOooo—

I undervisning i kemi og fysik har det været et bærende princip at man også skulle have øvelser eller i det mindste demonstrationer, hvor læreren og nogle elever viser de fænomener, man ønsker at forklare nærmere.

Det er meget godt, men det kan jo også være så meget forsimplet, at eleverne opfatter “skolen” som en verden for sig selv og “videnskaben” som nogle elfenbenstårne, som det vil være næsten umuligt at nærme sig.

Da jeg efter mange år efterhånden var kommet ud over frygten for videnskabens front, fik jeg jo undervisning i computer-teknik, og dér oplevede jeg med den største styrke hvordan mange fagfolk manglede realitets-fornemmelse for nogle af de ting, der foregår i en computer. Sagt på en anden måde, jeg oplevede at hands-on var den eneste undervisning, som virkede. Godt nok med en introduktion, forklaring af opgaven, men altså kort og godt “gør det selv” for at bryde fortryllelsen af dem og os :

Bryd muren mellem

videnskaben og os.

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Nå hænger det sådan sammen …

Pasta alla carbonara – hvor kommer det fra og hvad betyder det? Nej det var ikke mester kokken (“chef” på fransk, capocuoco på italiensk) Mario Carbone, som lagde navn til.

Some connect it to pasta cacio e uova, a Neapolitan dish of pasta tossed with melted lard, beaten raw eggs, and cheese, as documented in Ippolito Cavalcanti’s 1839 Neapolitan cookbook. Because the name comes from the word carbonaro, “coal burner,” some believe the dish was created as a hearty easy-to-make meal by men working outdoors for long periods. Others trace it to the Allied liberation of Rome in 1944, with American GIs bringing their daily ration of eggs and bacon to local restaurants to add to the limited Italian menu. Supporting this story is the first written reference to the dish in newspaper La Stampa in 1950, describing it as a dish prized by American servicemen. Shortly after, carbonara also appears in Elizabeth David’s classic 1954 book Italian Food.

https://www.lacucinaitaliana.com/italian-food/italian-dishes/carbonara-origins-and-anecdotes-of-the-beloved-italian-pasta-dish

Den forklaring finder man elaboreret i en anden artikel, som nævner en capocuoco fra Bologna – men historien med de allierede soldaters rationer går igen her (se til allersidst):

Pasta Carbonara – Who invented it?

[…] But there’s another version of the history of this popular dish, that seems to be the most accurate. Apparently, it was Renato Gualandi, a chef from Bologna who, history teaches us now, invented pasta alla Carbonara. When I heard this story I was astonished, as I had never heard of him, even though he was – I have now learned – one of the most influential chefs and restaurant owners of post-war Italy.

And yes: apparently Renato Gualandi invented carbonara, guys!

Renato Gualandi: more than pasta Carbonara

Born in 1921, Renato Gualandi started early to work as a delivery boy for one of Bologna’s best-known butchers. In 1932, he was an assistant at a local deli shop, Palmirani. Aged 18, he won his first culinary prize in Catania, Sicily. Towards the end of the Second World War, he cooked both in Bologna, at Baglioni’s, and Imola, at the Albergo Grand’Italia: it was in this period, Gualandi says, that he created Carbonara.

In 1952, he opened his own restaurant in Bologna, the legendary 3G. Gualandi’s approach to food was quite innovative for a time when culinary trends were largely dictated by the kitchens of Europe’s most famous five-star hotels. He ditched novel ingredients and complex flavors to return to the simplicity and authenticity of the dishes of his land, Emilia Romagna, and of Bologna in particular. He certainly had a lot to take inspiration from, considering the culinary patrimony of the region.

In 1959, his restaurant could sit 150 and by the time it closed, 12 years later, there were 7 “sfogline” (women who rolled pasta and pasta dough by hand) working in its kitchens. Very popular was also the 3G deli, annexed to the front section of the restaurant: with its large spit always going, this was where the bolognese went to pick up Gualandi’s creations to bring home.

[…]

it was Gualandi himself to tell how carbonara came to be. It was 1944 and Italy was still torn by the war. In those months, Gualandi had been working in Riccione, a seaside town on the Riviera Romagnola, today is known for its beaches and nightlife. When Riccione was freed, the Allied decided to celebrate with a banquet: Gualandi was put in charge of it.

There were quite some names attending, among them Harold Mac Millan, at the time in charge of the British forces, stanced in the Mediterranean (who was to become Prime Minister 13 years later) and UK generals Harold Alexander and Sir Oliver Leese. With such guests, and for such an occasion, Gualandi had to put together something tasty, but only with what was available in town, mostly army rations of dried foods and a little meat. 

Gualandi admitted he wanted to create something new, that could bring together Italian and Anglo-Saxon cuisine; with a bit of help from Slovenian culinary tradition (he said to have been inspired by a soup popular in Isdria, called “spikrofi”), he concocted a sauce for spaghetti made of bacon, cream, processed cheese, and dried egg yolk, topped with a sprinkle of freshly ground pepper.

Needless to say, Gualandi’s dish was a success!

https://lifeinitaly.com/who-invented-carbonara/