EDITOR: GEORGE H. MORRISON
/c hemist ry
EDITORIAL HEAIDQUARTERS 1155 Sixteenth EX., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036 Phone: 202-872-4570 Teletype: 710-8220 151 Executive Editor: Josephine M. Petruzzi Managing Editor: Barbara Cassatt Associate Editor: Stuart A. Borman Assistant Editor: Marcia S.Cohen Editorial Assistants: Douglas L. Baxter, Rani A. George Production Manager: Leroy L. Corcoran Art Director: John V. Sinnett Staff Artist: Linda M. Mattingly Copy Editor; Gail M. Morterison Circulation Manager: Cynthia G. Smith Journals Dept., Columbus, Ohlo Associate Head: Marianne Brogan Assistant Editor: Rodney L. Temos Advlsory Board: Donald D. Bly, Joel A. Carter, Richard S.Danchik, Richard Durst, Helen M. Free, Shizuo I’ujiwara, Georges Guiochon, Csaba Horvath, Wilbur I. Kaye, Bruce R. Kowalski, Robert A. Libby, Richard S. Nicholson, Thomas C. OHaver, Janet Osteryoung, Robert E. Sievers. Rudolph H. Stehl lnstrumentatlon Advisory Panel: Nelson L. Alpert, Edward Chait, Stuart P. Cram, M. Bonner Denton, Raymond E. Dessy, Martin S.Frant, Michael L. Gross, Fred E. Lytle, Yair Talmi Contributing Editsoor, The Analytical Approach: Jeanette G. Grasselli The Analytical Approach Advisory Panel: Edward C.Duniop, Robert A. Hofstader. Wilbur D. Shults Regulatory Affairs, Analytkal Division Committee: Fred Freeberg (Chairman) Publishedby the AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY 1155 16th Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036 Books and Journals Division Director: D. H. Michael Bowen Journals: Charles R. Bertsch Production: Elmer Pusey, Jr.
Teaching for the Microcircuit Age Advances in analytical chemistry during the past three decades have come a t a staggering rate. Perhaps the most profound change has been the introduction of modern electronics with the resultant emergence of the field of instrumental analysis. Measurements that were inconceivable not too many years ago are now commonplace in routine analyses. Fortunately for analytical chemistry, advances in electronics with an even greater potentia1 for our discipline continue to be made. The introduction of integrated circuits just a few years ago is revolutionizing the form and structure of commercially available instrumentation and the modes of instrument maintenance and repair. Associated with the availability of tiny and inexpensive integrated circuits has been the appearance of the microcomputer, which has greatly influenced instrument control and data processing. The nature and consequence of the impact of microcircuits on the principles and practice of chemical instrumentation are so profound that new methods and concepts of teaching are required to keep pace with these developments. In this month’s INSTRUMENTATION feature (pp 367-93 A), C. G. Enke, S. R. Crouch, F. J. Holler, J. P. Avery, and H. V. Malmstadt present such a new approach, involving a function-center conceptualization of modern instrumentation. Arguments for such a new perspective on electronics and scientific instrumentation are presented along with a description of a learning system that demonstrates its practicability. We are greatly indebted to Professors Malmstadt, Enke, and Toren for their classic book “Electronics for Scientists,” published in 1962, which has been used to educate generations of scientists in the practical aspects of the subject. Now Malmstadt, Enke, and Crouch have written a new text to cope with the microcircuit age, “Electronics and Instrumentation for Scientists,” Benjamin/Cummings, Menlo Park, Calif., 1981. Accompanying this is a lab experiment book by Holler, Avery, Crouch, and Enke entitled “Experiments in Electronics, Instrumentation, and microcomputer^.'^ As we admire the dramatic advances taking place in chemical instrumentation, let us not forget the equally important advances in the teaching of this new and complex material.
Marketing & Sales: Claud K. Robinson Research and Development Seldon W. Terrant Manuscript requirements are published in the January 1982 issue, page 155. Manuscripts for publication (4 copies) should be submitted to ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY at the ACS Washington address. The American Chemical Society and its editors assume no responsibilityfor the statements and opinions advanced by contributors. Views expressed in the editorials are those of the editors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the American Chemical Society. ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, VOL. 54, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 1982
161
