My 50+ Years in Chromatography

Jack Rhodes, the long-standing marketing director of the Perkin-Elmer Corporation (now PerkinElmer, Inc., Shelton, Connecticut) in the second part of the 20th century, used to introduce me as the guy who was present at creation (meaning gas chromatography). I always tried to correct him, saying that I only joined the field a few seconds after the Big Bang. However, it is true that I had the good fortune to witness the development of gas (and modern high performance liquid) chromatography from its very beginning and participate in it in various capacities. I started as a user at a time when there were very few users; then I switched sides and for over 30 years I had an active role as the interface between the manufacturer and the users. In the last 15 years, my activities became restricted mainly to serving as a chronicler of past events. However, I still consider myself an active chromatographer who tries to follow the events.

My more than one half century in this field had some special bonuses. I was able to serve as the roving ambassador of chromatography on five continents (there is no chromatography in Antarctica!). I met and had close contact with most of the pioneers, and acquired many good friends from California to Japan, and from Norway to South Africa.