INSTRUMENTATION G. Frederick Smith— Distinguished Chemist
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analysts have undoubtedly the gracious gesture in the midyear issue of Talanta 13, 867-1052 (1960) in which the entire copy was designated as the G. F . Smith Honour Issue. It contains a splendid personal tribute by Professor Harvey Diehl and invited contributions from Smith's former students and associates. We hope that those analysts who have not seen the issue will read it and recommend it to their students and associates. It would be difficult to add significantly to Dr. Diehl's warm hearted, learned, and well documented account of the achievements of G. Frederick Smith, but we have known Professor Smith for more than 30 years and marveled at the versatility of this distinguished chemist. Throughout his career, his attitude has epitomized the growing conviction that the distinction between pure and applied science is essentially irrelevant. As biochemist and 1945 Nobel Laureate Ernest Chain remarked recently, "discussion of the relative merits of pure and applied research gets a little tiresome and only very ignorant people believe that a sharp distinction can be made between the two.'' Chain prefers to classify research as useful or useless and as examples of useful results stemming from academic and industrial laboratories he cites penicillin, which originated in an academic laboratory, but, by its nature, could be no more "applied" than it is. Histamine and acetylcholine originated in an industrial laboratory, but their theoretical importance is immense [('hem. Enq. News 44, No. 23, 20 (1906)]. The balance which Dr. Smith has maintained between his academic career and his business ventures has been almost unique and of inestimable value to analytical chemists. Some of us are content to report a development or discovery in a thorough, but formal manner, and leave it to others to make some use of the information. Smith has always explored, in depth, the possibilities of a new compound or reagent and then sought an economical method of manufacturing it. His manifold efforts, combining precise, fundamental studies with first class technology, have been of enormous value to industry. The G. Frederick Smith Chemical Co. now -
