“Teaching makes you question what you think you know, and that is what a researcher must do”

Awarded the 2nd Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Basic Sciences, physicist Richard N. Zare explains in this interview how his research in chemical dynamics has allowed scientists to observe, with unprecedented precision, how bonds form and break during a molecular reaction. Zare details how the application of advanced laser techniques revealed fundamental processes that previously could only be described theoretically, opening new avenues in physical chemistry, spectroscopy, and molecular analysis. His reflection highlights the impact of understanding reactivity at the microscopic level, both for advancing basic knowledge and for developing technologies with applications in energy, materials, and biomedicine.

The 2009 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Basic Sciences category goes to physicist and chemist Richard N. Zare and physicist Michael E. Fisher, for their independent, fundamental contributions to describing the world at molecular level.