REPORT Thus by 1920 all the conditions needed for a system of chemical analysis by spectroscopy existed. We had excellent instrum e n t s , good p h o t o g r a p h i c emulsions, a power distribution n e t w o r k , a n d basic t h e o r y . However, chemists were very slow to take advantage of this powerful tool, even for simple qualitative identifications. They still relied on the classical instruments, the test tube, the blowpipe, the eye, and the nose. Emission spectroscopy did not become popular until well over a decade later and, again, Slavin (4) does a better job of describing the situation than I could hope to: Impetus for growth of the field, at least in this country, was given by a series of summer conferences organized by G. R. Harrison at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Beginning in 1933 and continuing to 1940 . . . these meetings were held for five days . . . in a small lecture hall seating about 80 persons. Only toward the end of
the period were there enough participants to fill the room, and more than half were organic chemists working with the spectrophotometer, not emission workers. . . . It was a truly e g a l i t a r i a n group; everyone was equal in his ignorance. The story is much the same for flame emission analysis. Lundegârdh started work in 1929 and eventually developed a completely automated system. Electrical detection of flame emission was described in the late 1930s. Developments undoubtedly were delayed by World War II, but a full 20 y e a r s after L u n d e g â r d h ' s work, Meggers would write (14): "the flame photometer appears suddenly (my emphasis) to have come into vogue for the quantitative determination of sodium, potassium, and calcium in almost anything." After 20 years, the scientific community suddenly woke up to the value of flame emission analysis. Thus the induction period for AAS probably was no longer than should have been expected. Adam Hilger Ltd. was the first major instrument company to market
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atomic absorption equipment under a n e x c l u s i v e l i c e n s e to W a l s h ' s patent. This unit took the form of a kit consisting of a hollow cathode lamp and power supply and a premixed nebulizer-burner assembly. It was designed to mount on one of the company's existing UV spectrophotometers, which used dc electronics. In this system, any flame emission would be detected and cause an error in the absorption measurement. The electronics are often cited as the fatal flaw in the Hilger kit. Based on my experience, I disagree. The second atomic absorption unit I ever used was a modified Hilger kit mounted on a Beckman DU (de electronics) spectrophotometer in Pickett's lab. The modification was important. The kit came equipped for an a i r - p r o p a n e flame, which proved to be totally unsatisfactory. Within weeks after delivery, Pickett, who had used a Lundeg â r d h flame, made a new b u r n e r head, following Walsh's design, and started burning acetylene. By the time I arrived on the scene in 1963, the instrument was in routine daily use and was at least as convenient to operate as t h e P-E Model 303, which e v e n t u a l l y r e -
1, 1991
