Editorial. Research - Source of Instrumental Development - Analytical

Editorial. Research - Source of Instrumental Development. Lawrence T. Hallett. Anal. Chem. , 1957, 29 (7), pp 989–989. DOI: 10.1021/ac60127a605. Pub...
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ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY

EDITORIAL

July 1957, Vol. 29, No. 7 APPLIED JOURNALS, ACS Direcfor o f Publicafions, C. B. Larrabee Editorial Direcfor, Walter J. Murphy Execufive Edifor, James M. Crowe Producfion M a n a g e r , Joseph H. Kuney

ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY Editor, Lawrence 1. Hallett M a n a g i n g Editor, Robert G. Gibbs

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Research Source of Instrumental Development L ! THE ~ turn of the century most graduate students in the natural sciences studied in Europe because most outstanding teachers were at European universities. One result was that research instruments were developed by these professors and by skilled craftsmen working with them. At that time America lacked facilities and teaching personnel for graduate work and had no instrument industry. Today the picture has changed. America has grown up scientifically. Our graduate schools of chemistry and physics, for example, are staffed with competent professors. They and their students are doing excellent work. Corresponding to this development has been the growth of the American fine instrument industry. Ideas and prototypes for many instruments produced by this industry have originated in the research laboratories of our universities. Others have come from industry, where research programs are an integral part of their operations. Still others, of course, have come from the instrument industry itself. This merging of ideas and skills has brought the American instrument industry to a high level of development. No longer is the American scientist \\-holly dependent on the foreign scientist for his research tools. This is not to say that foreign developments are of no significance to us. Both American and foreign scientists now are making their own unique contributions to a field which needs the best thinking of scientists and engineers and skills of artisans everywhere. The relatively recent establishment of facilities abroad by some American instrument companies and, in some cases, the reverse situation further encourage the utilization of the best ideas of each. The American instrument industry has certain unique aspects, which, me believe, are largely the result of the high level of industrial activity and the need to develop instruments which make production more efficient and less costly. One of these is the use of mass production techniques to turn out uniform instruments at lower cost. Many of these instruments are so deqigned that assembly and repair are relatively simple. Components can be “plugged in” to replace damaged or worn ones. This is particularly important where instruments are tied in to production control. The American instrument industry has also been quick to adapt developments in other fields of science and engineering. The use of printed circuits and transistors is an example, In brief, we would say, the ever-increasing tempo of research in America will lead to many new instrumental developments which will assist analysts and research workers everywhere, while the coming of age of the domestic instrument industry is permitting America to contribute to developments in a field which formerly was centered in foreign scientists and foreign industry.

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