How Are Discoveries in Chemistry Made? Insight from Three Discoveries and Their Impact

Learning how discoveries in chemistry are made and utilized by the users of innovation in chemistry offers several benefits both to chemistry innovation practitioners and to research policy makers. We study the research and societal impact of three discoveries in chemistry reported between 2002 and 2022. The analysis confirms that, also in chemistry, science does not develop in a linear fashion, and that scientific developments continue to occur, driven by curiosity from self-determined researchers whose work is driven by intrinsic motivation relying on intellectual gratification. Companies in numerous industrial sectors, well beyond the chemical industrial sector, greatly benefit from chemistry innovation developed at public research institutes and universities. An obvious consequence is that policy makers should continue to support the work of chemistry research institutions using taxpayer money, leaving researchers free to choose research topics and the way to conduct research.