The migration of three million people from Ukraine, mostly women and children, to other countries nearby is a tragedy beyond words. The tearful scenes where parents waved goodbye to kids at the departing stations would melt the hearts of everyone. In sharp contrast, escapades of a few scientists have gone mostly unseen by the media. Among them is an exceptional case of a scientist in medicinal chemistry, Tetiana Matvviyuk, who headed a company (Enamine) that specialised in making chemical compounds useful in drug discovery.

When the air-raid sirens went off during the first wave of Russian bombers over Kiev, Tetiana decided to collect whatever chemicals she could and left for Poland braving a 22-hour journey that normally takes three hours. She plans to resume her work, though on a modest scale in Riga, Latvia.

The importance of Tetiana’s work becomes evident, as her company’s collection of chemical molecules (3 million) is the source for starting....