George Whitesides is a chemist with a knack for translating lab discoveries into things the world finds useful. He has cofounded numerous companies, including the biotech giant Genzyme. In the late 1980s and 1990s, Whitesides, a professor of chemistry at Harvard University, helped make possible today's nano­technology boom by demonstrating the possibility of engineering molecules that self-assemble into ordered materials. Now he is turning his attention to finding solutions to today's energy crisis. Gleaning new insights from fundamental chemistry, he says, will be crucial to meeting energy needs and cutting increases in greenhouse­-gas emissions. TR's nanotechnology and materials science editor, Kevin ­Bullis, visited ­Whitesides in his Harvard office to ask how chemistry can help.

Technology Review: Why is chemistry central to energy?