LETTERS
Lessons from disaster
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CORRECTIONS
WAS INTRIGUED BY LOUISA WRAY DAL-
ton's article titled "Chemical Analysis of a Disaster," describing the nature of aerosol particles resulting from the collapse of the World Trade Center (C&EN, Oct. 20,2003, page 26). The results of studies made by several independent groups are rel evant to the effect a "dirty bomb" explosion would have on the area surrounding the ex plosion. The population in this area fol lowing the explosion would encounter aerosol particles containing radioactive iso topes. Even the large particles (greater than 10 μιη) that would lodge in the nose and throat would cause severe damage from ra diation emanating from the particles. Small er particles that lodge in the lungs would be extremely difficult to remove. Last summer, I arranged a workshop on the effect of a dirty bomb explosion in sev eral major population regions of the coun try including lower Manhattan. I invited a group of leading scientists from Ukraine who have been involved in treating the con sequences of the Chernobyl explosion. Volodymyr VTokarefsky director of the Re search Institute at the Chernobyl site, de scribed the formation of aerosol particles as radioactive carriers. He stressed the ne cessity of immediately washing all building exteriors, streets, and surroundings with fire hoses to ground the aerosols and wash them into the sewer system. Many other protec tive measures were discussed, but I see very little movement in the Department of Homeland Security to initiate protective measures. Police, firefighters, hospital staff, and other frontline responders need to be trained in how to respond to such an attack. Rapid deployment, protective measures, and immediate patient treatment are re quired to avert panic and disaster. ABRAHAM CLEARFIELD
College Station, Texas
Lies, damn lies, and statistics
• Jan. 19, page 26: Gefitinib (Iressa) and bortezomib (Velcade) are smalt-mole cule drugs. • Jan. 19, page 50: In the table, Cele brex is a Pfizer drug. • Jan. 26, page 60: The award address for the Arthur Adamson Award will be given before the Division of Physical Chemistry at the ACS national meeting in Anaheim, Calif.
and choice of graduate school to "quantify the influence of graduate school choice on future academic success." It's obvious to me (and to David B. Collum later in the article) that the correlation arises from the tendency of top students to want to work with top advisers, who are dis proportionately found at top schools (that's why they're "top schools!"). Great students will be successful because they have drive and determination, and less capable chemists will not succeed because they at tended a "top" graduate school. The finding that only 5 0 - 6 0 % of the faculty at top 10 schools went to top 10 schools themselves strongly implies that one may succeed re gardless of whether one goes to a top 10 school. Therefore, it's ludicrous when Gottselig/Lars Oeltjen say that a high-rank ing grad school is a sine qua non for a highranking professorship, even though they found that a substantial fraction of profes sors at top 10 schools did not meet this cri terion! It's the responsibility of a trained sci ence writer to notice and call to attention these inconsistencies. Probably Yarnell would defend herself by saying that both sides of the argument are stated in the article. However, as mag azine producers, you know that impact is made by the graphics and the bylines, which all somehow follow the conclusion that "prestige counts." Does the author believe Gottselig and Oeltjen more than the in ternationally respected scientists Collum, ThomasJ. Meade, and Carolyn R. Bertozzi? PATRICK HOLLAND
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'M DISTRESSED THAT TRAINED SCIEN-
tists could write and approve an article like the one titled "Grad School: Does It Matter Where You Go?" byAmanda Yarnell (C&EN, Sept. 29,2003, page 42).This article devotes its whole first page to the questionable practice of concluding that a correlation implies causation. Namely, Michael Gottselig and colleagues use a sim ple correlation between academic success 4
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Rochester, Ν. Υ
Foreign labor: A siren song
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N MADELEINE JACOBS' EDITORIAL, SHE
refers to the R&D jobs and services mov ing to India (and China) at a stunning rate (C&EN, Dec. 8,2003, page 3). While
this sounds good for a developing country like India in the short run, in the long run it is neither good for India nor for the U.S. A close relative of mine returned to In dia to join a major U.S. company's R&D center, only to discover that the work had no relevance to India. Even the work hours were changed so that the Indian scientists would be available for conference calls from the U.S. After the initial euphoria of re turning home, you begin to realize that you are being exploited, given that the salary is a fraction of that for a comparable job in the U.S. (albeit good by local standards) and the work you are doing so energetically has lit tle or no relevance to the local conditions. This cannot last forever; in a country ruled Continued on page 53
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Frank H. Field & Joe L Franklin Award for Outstanding Achievement in Mass Spectrometry Sponsored by Bruker Da/tonics Kenneth G. Standing, 78, emeritus professor in the department ofphysics and astronomy at the University of Manitoba, in Canada, made the switch from nuclear physics to mass spectrometry in 1979. "More than 20 years ago, Ken saw the light and converted from nuclear physics to mass spectrometry," says Marvin L. Vestal of Applied Biosysterns, Framingham, Mass. "He brought with him a thorough knowledge of basic physics and electronics, gleaned from developing exotic instruments for studying high-energy atomic ions, and applied that knowledge and insight to developing revolutionary instrumentation and techniques for measurements on molecules." "I changed to mass spectrometry" Standing says, "because I had developed an interest in biology, and mass spectrometry offered a chance to apply the expertise that I had developed in physics to that field. Nuclear physics had become a much more mature area by that time, and I found it less appealing." His physics background was helpful in the switch to mass spectrometry "Many of the methods now used in time-of-flight [TOF] mass spectrometry have been derived from earlier developments in nuclear physics, so my nuclear physics background was invaluable," Standing explains. "I had already been involved in experiments measuring neutron time of flight." In the mass spectrometry community, Standing is best known for his work in developing instrumentation for time-of-flight mass analysis. Vestal says Standing "has been a major force in establishing the T O F mass spectrometer as the preferred technique for many applications to large nonvolatile molecules of biological importance." Standing created the collisional-damping interface for orthogonal injectionTOF mass spectrometry that made it practical to build hybrid mass spectrometers combining quadrupoles with high-performance T O F analyzers. "For the first time, both [electrospray} and MALDI were available on a single high-performance instrument," Vestal says. "Since John Fenn and Koichi Tanaka recently shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2002 for these important achievements, it seems appropriate that HTTP://WWW.CEN-ONLINE.ORG
Ken Standing should be recognized for developing the most important instrument that makes these ionization techniques available for routine applications." Peter Roepstorff, a professor in the department of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Southern Denmark, Odense, calls Standing a pioneer in mass spectrometry of biological macromolecules. "He used his background in nuclear physics and skills in instrument design and building to demonstrate the possibilities for analysis of such molecules long before commercial instruments became available. His home-built instruments have served as models for many of the later commercially available instruments." Richard M. Caprioli, director ofthe mass spectrometry research center at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, agrees. "Instruments derived from his work have made a major contribution to the acceptance of mass spectrometry by the biological community as an essential research tool," he says. Standing received his bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Manitoba in 1948. He received his master's and doctoral degrees in physics from Princeton University where he worked with Rubby Sherr, in 1950 and 1955, respectively He has been a professor at the University ofManitoba since 1953, when he joined the faculty as an assistant professor. He was promoted to associate and full professor in 1959 and 1964, respectively In 1995, he became professor emeritus. In 1998, Standing received the Award for Distinguished Contributions to Mass Spectrometry from the Canadian Society for Mass Spectrometry Although he retired in 1993, he intends to continue doing research as long as he is able. The award address will be presented before the Division ofAnalytical Chemistry-CELIA HENRY
DEADLINE INFORMATION The deadline for all 2005 ACS national award nominations was Feb. 1. Since the deadline date was on a Sunday, the ACS National Awards Program accepted nominations until Monday, Feb. 2. Nomination materials that have been received since Feb. 2 are being returned. Nomination material sent by U.S. Postal Service, Federal Express, and so forth, must have been postmarked on or before Feb. 2. More information on the ACS National Awards Program is available on the Web at http://chemistry.org/awards.
LETTERS continuedfrompage 4 by a foreign ruler for 200 years, people are ever more conscious of being recolonized and exploited. Since the information technology revolution ofthe 1990s, Indiahas been perceived as a country with a highly trained workforce consisting of many science Ph.D.s and engineering graduates. This has translated to many call center and software jobs fleeing to India. But neither are examples of high-tech work, if they can be called high-tech at all. High schoolgraduateswithproper training can do that. In fact, the state of affairs of Indian science as reported in the journal Science previously {298,733 (2002)] is not good. According to the article, 'The number of Indian papers in peer-reviewed journals had dropped by 24% since 1980 and the country's global ranking had slipped from eighth to 15th, despite its status as the world's second most populous nation." India has many serious problems that require urgent attention, such as public health, basic health care, safe and adequate drinking water, an endemic energy shortage, and environmental pollution. None of the work panned out to India and other developing countries by^Jfestern companies helps them to solve these basic problems. RAJINDAR SINGH
Colorado Springs, Colo.
A fond farewell
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WAS S U R P R I S E D AND SADDENED TO
read of the recent death of Marshall D. Gates Jr., my Ph.D. adviser at the University of Rochester some 50 years ago (C&EN, Nov 3,2003, page 52). One thing that has struck me is that I suspect many young chemists wonder why all the fuss about the synthesis ofmorphine that Gates accomplished, considering that its structure looks quite simple compared to those that are being elucidated and synthesized now However, if those who wonder can try to put themselves back a bit over 50 years and look at the tools and knowledge a chemist had to work with, they will begin to understand what an amazing piece ofwork it was. In the many years since I left the university I have had cause to think back to all the things I learned from Gates and realize that much of it had little to do with chemistry and more to do with being a good and curious human being. I could never thank him enough for all that he taught and gave to me. ELLIS GLAZIER
La Paz, Mexico C&EN
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