ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the examples of the types of activities that might be undertaken by the Santa Fe Institute. Among the many that might be used, the focus will be on "Reconstructing the Past through Chemistry." Reconstruction of the past is an interdisciplinary activity that involves physicists, chemists, geologists, and paleontologists, among others. It is of interest to a wide public and there have been spectacular developments. At the same time, such studies do not have a home in any traditional academic department. The role of chemistry in reconstructing the past involves not only chemistry, but geology, paleontology, and meteorology, but it all started with chemical analyses. It, thus, is a prime example of an interdisciplinary activity of the type proposed for this Institute. There are museums, interest in anthropology, much geological activity in the Southwest, and superb facilities for chemical analyses at the Sandia and Los Alamos National Laboratories.
