All Members

On Friday 14 March, I was reminded by author, radio/TV commentator and general word person Kel Richards that it was pi day. Well, if you adhere to the American way of date notation  it makes sense - 3/14, ~3.14, That's fine for the maths people, and I think it's great if it's supported with gusto in our schools. As chemists, we should get behind the day which celebrates our unit - the mole. Once again, using American date notation, mole day occurs between 6:02 am and 6:02 pm on the 23rd of October - 6:02/10/23 or (approximately) 6.02*10²³. Reportedly, it's celebrated particularly in schools in the USA and also elsewhere, with lots of bad puns and dress-ups. I feel that the RACI should get behind it and promote it for all its worth. It's a great way to get the RACI noticed, to get our brand out there, and it costs nothing. A press release with a bit of snappy text delivered to science journos a day or so beforehand, and some good photos and videos with a participating high school could be part of a campaign to tell the nation who we are and what we do.
Cheers, Tom

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Tom Smith
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A great idea!

By extension, in the US, the American Chemical Society holds its National Chemistry Week around the 23 October.

It would take a concerted effort by all the Branches and Divisions to facilitate something nationally.

I'd be interested in learning what activities the RACI is planning for Australia's National Science Week 2025 in August.

Piggybacking off of an existing nationwide celebration of science to raise awareness of chemistry is surely easier.

Hi Daniel, I guess I never envisaged anything like a multi-divisional effort to start with. Maybe just one or two schools, working along the lines of "keep it light, keep it bright, make it fun". The idea would be just to get our brand recognised and to start telling people what chemists do. Most of the people I know, most of the people I meet confuse chemists with pharmacists. It's a tough gig to explain it. Let's face it, we're starting from ground zero. Bundling it into pan-STEM activities like National Science Week doesn't differentiate our product. OK, let's do National Science Week, but we can do something else outside it.

I don't do social media, so I don't know if there's a young, bright, personable Aussie chemistry influencer out there. Is there? If not, we need one. Some years ago while searching for stuff to keep up my German comprehension, I came across a presentation by a young German chemist on the website Science Slam - I've put the English start page here. Her name is Dr Mai Thi Nguyen Kim. She is now an astoundingly successful presenter across YouTube and German TV. with currently around 1.5 million followers among German speakers (she also speaks fluent English, of course). There has to be a lot of nerds in Germany. She can be controversial, and sometimes I don't agree with her, but she makes strong, well-constructed arguments.  

Cheers, Tom

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Tom Smith
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Original Message:
Sent: 16-03-2025 15:15
From: Thomas (Tom) Smith
Subject: Mole Day

On Friday 14 March, I was reminded by author, radio/TV commentator and general word person Kel Richards that it was pi day. Well, if you adhere to the American way of date notation  it makes sense - 3/14, ~3.14, That's fine for the maths people, and I think it's great if it's supported with gusto in our schools. As chemists, we should get behind the day which celebrates our unit - the mole. Once again, using American date notation, mole day occurs between 6:02 am and 6:02 pm on the 23rd of October - 6:02/10/23 or (approximately) 6.02*10²³. Reportedly, it's celebrated particularly in schools in the USA and also elsewhere, with lots of bad puns and dress-ups. I feel that the RACI should get behind it and promote it for all its worth. It's a great way to get the RACI noticed, to get our brand out there, and it costs nothing. A press release with a bit of snappy text delivered to science journos a day or so beforehand, and some good photos and videos with a participating high school could be part of a campaign to tell the nation who we are and what we do.
Cheers, Tom

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Tom Smith
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Let us see if there are enough RACI members interested in contributing to events to mark Mole Day on Thursday, 23 October 2025.

Hi @Thomas (Tom) Smith and @Daniel Turner,

I can have a chat to our communications person and see if this is something we can publicise and get off the ground, perhaps more generally this year, and if there's significant interest we can build on it for 2026. In any case I can certainly help to get the word out there!

I might need to pick your brain a little more, if that's ok?

With thanks,

Hannah

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Hannah McCarthy
Education & Outreach Coordinator (National)
The Royal Australian Chemical Institute
Email: education1@raci.org.au
Phone: (03) 9328 2033
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Original Message:
Sent: 16-03-2025 15:15
From: Thomas (Tom) Smith
Subject: Mole Day

On Friday 14 March, I was reminded by author, radio/TV commentator and general word person Kel Richards that it was pi day. Well, if you adhere to the American way of date notation  it makes sense - 3/14, ~3.14, That's fine for the maths people, and I think it's great if it's supported with gusto in our schools. As chemists, we should get behind the day which celebrates our unit - the mole. Once again, using American date notation, mole day occurs between 6:02 am and 6:02 pm on the 23rd of October - 6:02/10/23 or (approximately) 6.02*10²³. Reportedly, it's celebrated particularly in schools in the USA and also elsewhere, with lots of bad puns and dress-ups. I feel that the RACI should get behind it and promote it for all its worth. It's a great way to get the RACI noticed, to get our brand out there, and it costs nothing. A press release with a bit of snappy text delivered to science journos a day or so beforehand, and some good photos and videos with a participating high school could be part of a campaign to tell the nation who we are and what we do.
Cheers, Tom

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Tom Smith
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Hi Tom

A great idea. I am one of those weird people who celebrate all kinds of days like this, and have been celebrating Mole Day for the past few years through my business. 

There are lots of useful days we Chemists should celebrate. It would be terrific if our communications handled by NO could hook into these. Perhaps other members might suggest some. The RSC website has some great information for this as a resource. Did you know, for instance, that the electron was discovered on 30/4 by Thomson?

Hope you're well (and hopefully we see you at the Fellows Lunch on 2 May)!

Best,

Maree

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Maree Stuart
Principal Consultant
MAS Management Systems Pty Ltd
maree@masmanagementsystems.com.au
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Original Message:
Sent: 16-03-2025 15:15
From: Thomas (Tom) Smith
Subject: Mole Day

On Friday 14 March, I was reminded by author, radio/TV commentator and general word person Kel Richards that it was pi day. Well, if you adhere to the American way of date notation  it makes sense - 3/14, ~3.14, That's fine for the maths people, and I think it's great if it's supported with gusto in our schools. As chemists, we should get behind the day which celebrates our unit - the mole. Once again, using American date notation, mole day occurs between 6:02 am and 6:02 pm on the 23rd of October - 6:02/10/23 or (approximately) 6.02*10²³. Reportedly, it's celebrated particularly in schools in the USA and also elsewhere, with lots of bad puns and dress-ups. I feel that the RACI should get behind it and promote it for all its worth. It's a great way to get the RACI noticed, to get our brand out there, and it costs nothing. A press release with a bit of snappy text delivered to science journos a day or so beforehand, and some good photos and videos with a participating high school could be part of a campaign to tell the nation who we are and what we do.
Cheers, Tom

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Tom Smith
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