In this Issue VW $XJX • Spectroscopist Profile: Bourdon Scribner (p. 5) • Retrospectives: First SAS H National Meeting (p. 19) 9ROXP • History of Spectroscopy: The Allison U 1XPEH Effect (p. 24)
The Newsletter of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy, a supplement to Applied Spectroscopy, Vol 50, No 9
values in the industry. We tasked the Publica- From the President tions Committee to evaluate the suitability of having an applications newsletter and talked about using the World Wide Web as the media. t's hard to believe that we're , We committed to establishing some mini- more than half way through courses to offer in addition to the SAS short 1996! It has been a very busy courses and we evaluated the benefit of in- year for SAS and we have seen a creasing our international membership. We lot of changes. I'd like to take took a hard look at the local sections that are this opportunity to give you an inactive or only minimally active, and talked update and to share some insights. about strategies for increasing involvement. In In January, the SAS Executive Committee a climate of "downsizing" and "corporate cut- (EC) met near BWI airport to do strategic plan- backs" we're concerned about retaining mem- ning and critically evaluate the health of the or- bers and meeting their needs. We have to ask ganization. This resulted in several special ini- ourselves if a monthly dinner meeting remains tiatives. Through discussions between EC the most appropriate venue for involvement at members, staff, and our facilitator, several the local section level. Should local sections things became clear. We realized it is impor- be considering half day workshops or 1-2 day tant to offer significant member benefits and to symposia instead? Should SAS educational work on member retention. We also learned courses be offered at the local sections if there that gimmicks don't typically attract scientists is sufficient interest? and that what SAS has to focus on is the fact In March, many SAS members attended the that we can offer membership in a premier Pittsburgh Conference. Volunteers at the SAS spectroscopic society, with many very talented booth were successful in signing up more than members in academia, government, and indus- 70 new members but an unfortunate incident try. We committed to the publication of a resulted in the loss of many of the applications. membership directory which all members As testament to the cutbacks many employers should have in hand now, since it was shipped are imposing, we were short by a single vote in with the July issue of Applied Spectroscopy. obtaining a quorum for the SAS Governing We hope this will prove to be a valuable re- Board meeting at PittCon! This has been a source to our members and an effective tool to continued problem in recent years which re- facilitate networking. During our retreat we sulted in me establishing an ad hoc Internation- looked at feedback relative to Applied Spec- alization and Regionalization committee to troscopy and were pleased to see that the Focus evaluate a regional governance structure where articles are receiving widespread recognition local sections would remain intact, but govern- and that the journal remains one of the best ing board delegates would come from 4-6 re-
Page 1 gions. This would make the GB smaller, capa- would be so time-consuming, such hard work, ble of greater in depth discussions and make or so interesting. I would like to publicly ac- it easier to insure a quorum. Regional gover- knowledge the contributions of the rest of the nance would also afford non-US members the members of the Executive Committee (Kathy opportunity for involvement in governance. Kalasinsky, president-elect; Dave Coleman, During the spring, we had several person- past-president; Marvin Margoshes, treasurer; nel changes in the SAS office in Frederick, John Koropchak, secretary; Jim Holcombe, ed- MD. SAS remains appreciative of the many itor; Jim deHaseth and Dave Styris, member- positive contributions and the dedication of the ship education coordinators; and Mike Epstein, staff who are no longer employees of SAS. newsletter editor) without whose assistance We hired a new Executive Administrator, Bon- and support, I would have run away in January! nie Saylor, to provide administrative leader- I think the future for SAS is very bright and I ship. Bonnie has a BA in communications and invite you to become more involved in the So- an MS in public administration. She also has ciety - we need your input. Feel free to con- experience working for the American Associa- tact me with any comments or questions re- tion of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine and lated to SAS at: 301-504-8252 phone or is well-qualified to provide leadership to SAS [email protected] email. office staff. Another new addition to the staff is SAS Administrative Affairs Associate, Vic- tor Hutcherson who has a great deal of database and computer software and hardware Introducing the New SAS experience. These two join Barbara Stull who has served SAS for more than 12 years. I National Office Staff think you'll find the current SAS office team Bonnie Say- efficient and helpful! You can learn more lor (left), the about them on the SAS Homepage on the SAS Execu- World Wide Web (http://esther.la.asu.edu/sas/) tive Adminis- or feel free to give them a call! trator, is for- The project which is currently occupying mer Director most of my time as well as that of other SAS of Member EC members, is planning future interaction be- Services of tween SAS and FACSS. As most of you know, the American SAS has provided administrative support to Association FACSS on a contractual basis since 1991. Al- of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine and a though that relationship has proven to be pro- conference Associate for the National Associa- fessionally satisfactory, SAS has suffered some tion of Homebuilders. Victor Hutcherson financial losses and experienced problems with (right), SAS Administrative Affairs Associate, conflict of interest, dilution of volunteer effort, is a former administrative assistant to the Vice- diminished progress on important SAS initia- President of the American Association of Col- tives, and divided staff loyalties. Significant leges of Osteopathic Medicine and a veteran of effort has been spent talking with FACSS rep- 20 years of military service in the U.S. Army. resentatives trying to develop a mutually satis- Barbara Stull (center) has been with the SAS factory arrangement. Hopefully I'll be able to National Office Staff since 1984. give you an update on this in the next issue of the newsletter! I never thought that being SAS President
Page 2 Society Home Office News Report on Instrumentation Museum Activities Bonnie A. Saylor Executive Administrator Our first grant to pro- Change is the impetus to mote the Mu- progress, and the home of- seum Program fice for the Society for Ap- at the Chemical plied Spectroscopy in Fred- Heritage Foun- erick, Maryland has undergone some changes dation's head- over the past several months. Several staff quarters in members have left the Society, but the new Philadelphia has crew, made up of Victor Hutcherson, Adminis- been received trative Affairs Associate, from the Barbara Stull, Administrative Assistant, and Perkin-Elmer myself, is ready and willing to be of service. The Chemical Heritage Foundation building Corporation. at 315 Chestnut St in Philadelphia. Work continues in the office on existing We are actively projects, as well as new ones. The new SAS seeking grants from other sources including the Membership Directory for 1995-96 has been Pittsburgh Conference backers. We trust that sent to all members. The Directory, which has now that the first grant has been received offi- not been produced for a number of years, is an cially, others will follow. easy to read reference guide on members and Six of the instruments that were shown at society information We hope everyone finds it the 1994 Antiquities Exhibit at the Pittsburgh useful and just one of the many reasons for be- Conference have been in storage ever since. ing a member of SAS. They will shortly be moved from storage to In addition to the Directory, the office has their permanent place at the Chemical Heritage been busy recruiting and processing new mem- Foundation's home and placed on display as bers. As Executive Administrator, I was the start of the Museum Program. pleased to be able to exhibit at the Rocky Mountain Conference on Analytical Chemistry Ed Brame, Jr in July. Plans are also being made for exhibit- July 1996 ing trips to the International Conference on Ra- man Spectroscopy in Pittsburgh in August and z the Eastern Analytical Symposium in New Jer- sey in November. Membership is what makes the Society tick, and these meetings are sure to your mail and be sure to renew early so you entice more great people to join. don't miss out on any issues of Applied Spec- SAS will have a presence at the Federation troscopy. of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy So- As the months progress, we will continue cieties (FACSS) meeting in Kansas City and, to strive to provide the quality of member ser- as the official contractors for the FACSS meet- vice deserving of a professional society. We ing, we are diligently working to make this the welcome your comments and questions, so feel best meeting ever. free to call us at (301) 694-8122 or e-mail us at Membership and subscriber renewal no- [email protected]. tices will be coming out this month, so watch
Page 3 Update from the Local Section dents to go into science you will actually do it - what better way to motivate and recognize their Affairs Committee efforts and achievements! The recipient of the William J.Poehlman award On behalf of the Local Sec- is the Chicago Section (I abstained!). The Award tion Affairs Committee, it is granted to the Local Section which has con- gives me great pleasure to tributed the most towards accomplishing the goals announce the 1996 SAS and ideals of the Society. It consists of a certifi- Award Recipients. cate and an honorarium of $200.00. The SAS Graduate Student First, I would like to thank all the Section Award recipient is Mr. Jef- Chairpersons who nominated their Sections. If we frey A. Kinzer from the Ohio could have more than one recipient the Award Valley Section. Mr. Kinzer is a graduate student at would be given to all the Sections nominated this the Ohio State University under the direction of year. Specifically, the following Sections deserve Prof. John Olesik. His research is in the area of special recognition for their efforts and special pro- CE-ICP optical emission and mass spectrometry grams: Northern California, Penn-York and Rocky for elemental speciation and more recently in the Mountain. studies of ICPs using light scattering, emission and For the benefit of other Sections the following laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy. are some of their programs' highlights: The Award is given to a graduate student in • diverse topics during the year for regular recognition of outstanding research in the area of monthly meetings spectroscopy. It consists of a plaque and an ex- • specialized workshop/conference/symposia pense paid trip to the FACSS conference to accept • monthly/quarterly newsletter the award. • joint meeting with other society I would also like to take this opportunity and to • (holiday) meeting/party in a museum or tour of congratulate ALL the nominees. You are all win- labs i.e. something special ners by achieving everything you have to date! • Internet announcements; e-mail for correspon- Two Undergraduate Students were awarded dence the UNDERGRADUATE AWARD in APPLIED • coordinator position (contact for specific area to SPECTROSCOPY: Mr. Fassil Mesfin of the New help out with the program) York Section and Mr. Yu-Harn Chen from the • awards to local scientists/students Chicago Section. Mr. Mesfin performed research at • outreach to high school students SUNY, Old Westbury under the direction of Pro- If you would like to implement any of these fessor Judith Lloyd on "Fluorescence Spectro- activities, or simply need any suggestions for your scopic Study of Isomeric Hydroxy and Methoxy Local Section, call the Chairs of the above men- benzoic Acids for Analysis of Atmospheric Perox- tioned sections or any member of the Local Section ides". Mr. Chen did his research at Argonne Na- Affairs Committee. tional Laboratory under the direction of Dr. Jeffrey It takes a lot of effort, dedication and time to Gaffney on the topic of Chemiluminescent Detec- successfully 'run' a Local Section. Thank you to all tion of Air Pollutants". volunteers in ALL Local Sections; you make this The Award is granted to a junior or senior un- Society a success. dergraduate student majoring in science. It con- sists of a one-year subscription to the Applied Rina Dukor Spectroscopy Journal and a certificate. Chairperson I would like to encourage Local Sections and Local Sections Affairs Committee Research Advisors to nominate students for next August 1996 year's Awards. It takes a bit of time to put the doc- uments together but the reward is immeasurable. You will encourage and reward a student! In this time when everyone talks about motivating stu-
Page 4 SPECTROSCOPIST PROFILE Bourdon Scribner
by Mike Epstein and Marvin Margoshes. In the photo (left), Bourdon holds the gold medal he received from the New York Section of SAS in 1961.
won by the Washington Senators. Like many 6pectroscopists of today sit in front of future chemists, he had a chemical laboratory their instrumentation, giving little at home, and recalls, among other experiments, thought to the pioneering work that brought it generating bromine, undoubtedly to the con- all about. The subject of this issue’s Spectro- sternation of his parents. scopist Profile is a man who was a true pioneer After graduating from Western High and innovator in the formative years of emis- School in 1927, Bourdon took the Civil Ser- sion spectroscopy. vice examination and on July 5, 1927, began Bourdon F. Scribner is our living connec- his career at NBS where he was assigned to the tion to the origins of quantitative spectrochem- Spectroscopy Section as a Minor Laboratory ical analysis. Aside from a few scattered at- Apprentice at the princely salary of $900 per tempts that were not copied by others, quantita- year. His first job assign- tive analysis by emission spectroscopy had its ment was to calculate beginnings in the early 1920’s with key publi- wavelengths of spectra cations by Meggers and colleagues at the Na- from measurements made tional Bureau of Standards (NBS). Bourdon by Carl C. Kiess and joined Meggers group in 1927, and in a career William F. Meggers. Dr. spanning over 4 decades made several notable Meggers, Section Chief of contributions to the art and science of emission the Spectroscopy Section, spectroscopy. was to become his mentor Dr. Meggers and his young Bourdon was born in April of 1910 in and lifelong friend. assistant, Bourdon Scribner, examine a tube containing Westernport, Maryland. His early interest in Bourdon continued his the world’s supply of Lute- science grew with the encouragement of his fa- education by attending cium (April 1930, The Was- ington Times) ther, who was Chief of the Paper Section of evening classes, working NBS. At the age of 14, he built his family’s towards a B.S. at George Washington Univer- first radio by winding a tuning coil around a sity, which he obtained in 1933, followed by a Quaker Oats box and buying a crystal detector M.S. in physical chemistry from the University and earphones for less than 10 dollars, allow- of Maryland in 1939. His first publication ing his mother, an avid baseball fan, to listen to came after about a year at NBS when he was the 1924 World Series, the first and only ever named as a junior author of a paper with Dr.
Page 5 Meggers on “Regularities in the Spark Spec- tuitously, a photograph survived. trum of Hafnium.” It was to be followed by 72 With the German invasion of Poland in more during his government career of 46 years. September of 1939 and World War II looming After several months of learning to calcu- on the horizon, attractive technical positions late wavelengths, the young apprentice was in- became available in industry. Bourdon was re- troduced to photographing spectra and search- cruited as head of a laboratory in a magnesium ing for line pairs with similar characteristics as plant and a considerable increase in salary. He a first step to determining atomic energy levels. accepted the offer, said goodbye to his friends, During this early period, Bourdon had the op- but never got out the door. He was suddenly portunity to meet a number of the pioneers in surprised by a phone call from the NBS Direc- spectroscopy, including William W. Coblentz, tor, Dr. Lyman Briggs, who told him he was the founder of modern infrared spectroscopy. needed at NBS in view of some highly impor- He recalls that Dr. Coblentz often visited the tant work, so he couldn’t leave. His immediate NBS lab and usually had some aggravating reaction was “they can’t do this to me, this is a problem to discuss with Dr. Meggers, who free country, etc.” But they could ... the new would listen patiently, nodding his head. magnesium plant was a defense plant con- In 1933, Bourdon was put in charge of a trolled by the U.S. government. laboratory in the Chemistry building dedicated While he could not be told the substance of to expanded work in analytical spectrographic the highly important work, clues began to sur- analysis. A high-dispersion grating spectro- face. Uranium oxide samples bearing unusual graph was built, since none was available com- identifying names began to appear for analysis. mercially, as well as other equipment for exci- It was the beginning of research into the devel- tation of spectra and measuring spectral line opment of the atomic bomb, and the spec- intensities. Despite cutbacks in funds and per- troscopy lab at NBS became a part of the Man- sonnel as the Great Depression grew worse, the hattan Project when it was established two laboratory persevered and in the following years later. years performed analyses for a great number of The uranium spectrum is extremely com- clients in addition to the NBS Chemistry and plex, with an intense and almost continuum Metallurgy Divisions, including the FBI background. It was impossible to directly de- (evidence material), the Treasury Department termine impurities in the presence of the ura- (proof gold) and the Department of Agriculture nium spectrum. Bourdon and Harold Mullin (rare earth elements in hickory leaves). developed a method to volatilize the impurities Bourdon recalls one humorous incident as- from the electric arc before the uranium matrix sociated with the purification of the element volatilized, allowing the impurity spectra to be gallium by Dr. James Hoffman. The spec- easily observed and quantified. Gallium was troscopy laboratory was participating in the re- used as the carrier element to aid in the impu- search, as well as other NBS laboratories. In rity volatilization, and the newly-developed gratitude for research support, Hoffman pre- carrier-distillation spectrographic method was sented Frederick Bates, chief of the Polarime- found to allow the observation of 33 impurity try Section, with a beautiful pyramidal crystal elements in uranium, including the critical ele- of gallium. Bates proudly put the crystal on his ment boron, determined at concentrations desk for all to admire. Unfortunately, there was down to 1 ppm. The method was employed no air conditioning in those days and as the af- throughout the Manhattan Project, along with ternoon sun crept across his desk, the tempera- chemical separation methods, to spectrographi- ture rose and the crystal melted, the melting cally determine 65 elements in uranium-base point of gallium being 29.78 oC (85.6 oF). For- materials. It played a critical part in the devel-
Page 6 opment of the atomic bomb, and undoubtedly ready in progress. Over the next few decades, saved the lives of many Americans and the Section expanded into the new analytical Japanese who would have otherwise died in an areas of x-ray fluorescence spectrometry, elec- invasion of Japan. tron probe microanalysis and spark-source The carrier-distillation method found im- mass spectrometry. mediate application in the analysis of other ma- Bourdon was certainly among the pioneers terials by arc emission spectrography, and is to use computers in spectrochemical analysis. also the basis of the matrix-modification tech- Some of the early instrumentation is shown in nique used today in graphite furnace atomic ab- the photographs below, taken in 1957. Electri- sorption spectroscopy. cal signals from the photodetector array of the In addition to his work on the Manhattan emission spectrograph were converted to digi- Project, Bourdon was intimately involved in tal form and recorded on punch cards, which the development of spectrographic standards. were taken to the SEAC computer (Standards With the growth of industrial production dur- Eastern Automatic Computer) for processing. ing the war years, spectroscopy became essen- Despite the ar- tial to speed up control analysis, particularly in chaic form of the production of data transport steel. NBS had pro- (the SEAC was duced Standard Sam- a good walk ples of steel chips for from the emis- chemical analysis, but sion spectrome- something more was ter), the im- needed. In collabora- provement in tion with Committee analysis time was E-2 on Spectrographic dramatic, greatly re- Analysis of the ducing the tedium of ASTM, Bourdon and testing spectroscopic other NBS colleagues Standard Reference developed a series of Materials. In later short-form rod sec- years, the NBS tions that founded the Spectrochemical Bourdon Scribner and Robert Michaelis near the data acquisition system for NBS spectrographic the NBS emission spectrometer. Shown at the upper right is the SEAC com- Analysis Section standard sample pro- puter, which processed spectrometric data recorded on the punch cards. (NBS, was to make major 1957) gram. For his work in contributions to the these areas, Bourdon was awarded in 1951 the use of computers in spectrochemical analysis. Silver Medal of the U.S. Department of Com- During the 1950’s and 1960’s, Bourdon merce, “for very valuable contributions to sci- continued as head of the Spectrochemistry Sec- ence and technology in the field of spectro- tion of the Chemistry Division at NBS, and in chemical analysis, including meritorious au- 1958 was Acting Chief of the Spectroscopy thorship.” Section of the Atomic and Radiation Physics In 1947, Bourdon’s group was assigned to Division as well. He actively promoted and ad- the Chemistry division and became the new vanced the science of emission spectroscopy Spectrochemistry Section. However, he re- through his activity in professional and stan- tained his ties to Dr. Meggers’ Section by pro- dards organizations and his research at NBS. viding chemical laboratory facilities and by During this period he received the ASTM completing some spectroscopic research al-
Page 7 Award of Merit (1958) for distinguished ser- cial merits. While these vice to the Society, the Award of the Spec- salts normally sold for 22 troscopy Society of Pittsburgh (1959) for con- cents a pound, when pack- tributions to fundamental and applied spec- aged as a proprietary bat- troscopy, the Annual Award of the New York tery additive, at $3 a Section of the Society for Applied Spec- packet, they cost almost troscopy (1961) for distinguished work in spec- $20 a pound. This report troscopy, and the Gold Medal Award of the triggered a flood of mail to U.S. Department of Commerce (1969) for dis- Congress from outraged tinguished services to the nation’s technology distributors of AD-X2. By through the development of the methodology the end of 1951, 28 Sena- of spectrochemical analysis. He was made a tors and 1 Congressman Fellow of the Optical society of America had sent inquiries to NBS (1961) and an Honorary Member of the Group- about AD-X2. Then, in ment pour l’Avancement des Methodes Spec- 1952, a national magazine trographique (Paris, 1962). He was also chair- reported that laboratory man of the Washington Section of the Ameri- tests of AD-X2 made at can Chemical Society (1957), editor of the MIT were at variance with Capital Chemist (1954-55), and chairman of those done at NBS. In the the Baltimore-Washington Section of the Soci- resulting furor, the Direc- ety for Applied Spectroscopy (1966-67). tor of NBS, Dr. Allen Bourdon was also involved in one of the Astin, was relieved of his most heated controversies to face NBS in its post. But because of the entire history. Since the years immediately af- resulting press attack on ter World War I, NBS had evaluated a series of the Administration for dis- “miracle” battery additives that were claimed missal without a hearing, to revive dead batteries. By the 1930s, NBS and confronted with the had evaluated hundreds of these preparations reaction of scientists and and none showed any notable effect on either scientific organizations, battery life or performance. In 1948, the manu- the dismissal order was re- From the Washington Post facturers of a battery additive called “Protecto- scinded pending a congres- Charge”, later called “AD-X2”, requested that sional hearing, and the National Academy of NBS evaluate their product on the grounds that Sciences appointed a committee to appraise the it was an exception to previous findings on work of NBS on AD-X2. The committee found such additives. A year later, as part of a pro- that the MIT tests were “not well designed” gram on the properties of batteries, battery ad- and that the NBS staff was fully competent, the ditives were again evaluated by NBS, including quality of the work was excellent, and sup- AD-X2. In a departure from usual practice, ported “the position of the Bureau of Standards NBS specifically that the material is without merit.” Director identified AD- Astin was returned to his position and AD-X2 X2, which was faded into oblivion. Bourdon’s activities in- simply a mixture volved the spectrochemical characterization of of common salts AD-X2, summarized in the newspaper article (magnesium and shown here. sodium sulfates) During the 1960’s, Bourdon had the op- as having no spe-
Page 8 portunity to attend a number of international Colloquium. She and Bourdon were married in conferences. One that he recalled vividly was February of 1963. the 1965 IUPAC meeting in Moscow. As a In addition to his many accomplishments in plenary speaker, he and his wife were met at spectroscopy, Bourdon has maintained his the airport by a limo, and had two students to youthful interest in water sports and trains. In guide them around Moscow. When the confer- his 1956 article in the Capital Chemist titled ence organizers informed him that they needed “Sea-Going Spectroscopist”, Roger Bates de- a copy of his typed presentation immediately, scribes the yachting hobby of the “successful he told them he had only one copy. Could they spectrochemist and bachelor bon-vivant.” make a machine copy? No, but they had an- “Captain Scribner is a harsh leader; by strict other solution. They borrowed his copy and order, beer is withheld from the crew until the had some functionary type it overnight, return- course in finished.” Bourdon purchased a 39- ing it in the morning. foot double-cabin cruiser I suspect that Bour- in 1953, on which he don is perhaps most spent many of his leisure proud of his activities as hours. He was a member General Chairman of of the United States the International Con- Power Squadrons serving ference on Spectroscopy in several positions in the that was held at the Uni- Potomac River Power versity of Maryland Squadron, including from June 18-22, 1962. Commander in 1970-71. The Baltimore- He and Sally were quite Washington Section of involved in boating SAS was host to this in- throughout the sixties and ternational conference, seventies. the Tenth Colloquium Velmer Fassel offers a toast to Bourdon and Sally at their Wedding Today, Bourdon’s activi- Spectroscopicum Inter- (photo by Carl Leistner) ties center around the nationale, which was Washington D.C. Chapter also designated the First National Meeting of of the National Railway Historical Society. In the Society for Applied Spectroscopy. The 1979, the Chapter purchased the Dover Harbor, local section contributed $500 in seed money a heavy-weight Pullman car built in 1923 and and many eager helpers to make the meeting a in active first-class service until 1966. The car smashing success. The $5000 of surplus funds has six double-bedrooms and a buffet and is from this meeting were donated to establish a fully Amtrak certified for use on current-day fund for use by other Sections of the Society trains. Fully restored, the car is available for sponsoring national meetings in succeeding charter and can be coupled to an Amtrak train, years. National meetings have been held annu- taking you anywhere on the Amtrak system. ally since that time. Bourdon is currently chairman of the Dover But the most wonderful outcome of this Harbor Fund, which raises money to continue meeting for Bourdon was that he met Sally restorations and improvements of the car. Sally Mount of the U.S. Customs Laboratory, who is Charter Agent for use of the car. The philos- was to become his wife. Sally was a member of ophy of the Chapter is to present the living his- the Baltimore-Washington Section who was tory experience of riding in a luxury Pullman highly effective at recruiting new members, as it was, not just to have a museum piece. and she became one of the volunteers for the As befits a continued on page 20
Page 9 Governing Board Meeting, March 5, 1996 Chicago, Illinois
I. CALL TO ORDER IV. MEETING RULES OF ORDER A regular meeting of the Governing Board of the Society The President stated that Roberts Rules of Order shall be for Applied Spectroscopy was called to order at 7:54 PM the rules of order for the meeting. on March 5, 1996 at the Westin Hotel in Chicago, Illi- nois, by past-President Dave Coleman, who passed the V. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES FOR gavel to current President Nancy Miller-Ihli. THE PREVIOUS GOVERNING BOARD MEET- ING, OCTOBER 17, 1995 II. INTRODUCTIONS It was moved that the minutes of the previous meeting be Nancy Miller-Ihli then introduced the Executive Com- approved as published in the Newsletter. The motion mittee members and Society staff. was seconded and approved.
III. ROLL CALL VI. SECRETARY'S REPORT None. Executive Committee: David Coleman (Past President) VII. TREASURER'S REPORT Jim de Haseth (Membership Ed Coordination) (A) Past-treasurer Ed Peck described the details of the James Holcombe (Journal Editor) 1995 budget which resulted in a $92,000 deficit. Kathy Kalasinski (President-Elect) (B) Treasurer Marvin Margoshes indicated that the John A. Koropchak (Secretary) deficit in the Membership Education budget would Marvin Margoshes (Treasurer) be made up from the surplus fund for Membership Nancy Miller-Ihli (President) Education. The Journal Editor is reducing page Eileen Skelly-Frame (Parliamentarian) numbers this year to reduce the cost of publishing the Journal. Marvin Margoshes moved that dues for Local Sections: regular members, student members and retirees be A roll call of the local section delegates indicated that a increased by $5 each for 1997. The Parliamentarian quorum was not achieved. Twenty sections were repre- indicated that the motion could be voted upon and sented. Twenty-one are required for a quorum. The Lo- implemented without a quorum, but that the decision cal Section Delegates present were: could be rescinded at the next meeting at which Section Delegate(s) there is a quorum. The motion was approved. Baltimore-Washington Fran Ptak Chicago Douglas Shrader, David Lankin VIII. PRESIDENT'S REPORT (appended) Cincinnati Vahid Majidi Cleveland Dave Fedor IX. EXECUTIVE ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT Delaware Valley Ed Brame (appended) Detroit Patsy Coleman, Roscoe Carter Houston Andrew Scheie X. JOURNAL EDITOR-IN-CHIEF'S REPORT Indiana Elizabeth Shanks (appended) Kansas City Karme Galle Jim Holcombe described details of the Journal. He indi- New York John Fiorino, Marvin Margoshes cated that the higher travel costs for the Journal were due N. California Ed Peck, Nathan Haese to the search for a new printer last year and that this pro- Ohio Valley Kurt Thaxton cess will result this year and beyond in the reduction in Penn-York Duane Johnson costs of production by $20,000-40,000 per year. Pittsburgh Jonathan Talbott St. Louis David McCurdy XI. NEWSLETTER EDITOR'S REPORT S. California Jerold Kacsir, Warren Vidrine (appended) Arizona Sean Madden Piedmont James de Haseth, Ron Williams XII. MEMBERSHIP EDUCATION COORDINA- Toledo Ray Hertz TOR'S REPORT (appended) Snake River Peter Griffiths
Page 10 XIII. NATIONAL SAS COMMITTEE REPORTS that FACSS is considering changing the A. Awards - John Koropchak read a letter from the dates and site. St. Louis Section nominating Roy Koirtyohann for hon- orary membership. It was moved that SAS award Roy XVI. OLD BUSINESS Koirtyohann honorary membership and the motion was A. Membership Directory - Nancy Miller-Ihli indicated approved. that the Membership Directory is to be prepared this B. Constitution and Bylaws None year. C. Local Section Affairs (appended) D. Membership (appended) - Elaine Skelly-Frame XVII. NEW BUSINESS - None. described activities for membership including: (a) SAS will staff booths at FACSS, EAS, Rocky Mountain Con- XVIII. DATE AND TIME OF NEXT GOVERNING ference and the International Conference on Raman BOARD MEETING Spectroscopy, (b) there will be a student member pro- It was moved that the next Governing Board Meeting be motion through faculty at universities, and (c) there held at FACSS on October 1, 1996 in Kansas City, Mis- will be a postcard mailing to members as a reminder of souri. The motion was seconded and approved. member benefits. E. Membership Education None XIX. ADJOURNMENT F. Nominations - Joseph Caruso and Paul The meeting was adjourned at 9:39 P.M. Farnsworth were nominated for the office of President of the Society. A motion to close the nominations was ap- Respectfully submitted proved. John A. Koropchak, SAS Secretary. G. Publications (appended) - The committee rec- ommended that Jim Holcombe be retained as Editor-in- Calendar of Meetings Chief for another three years. Nancy Miller-Ihli reported that the Executive Committee approved the recommen- 1996 dation. Sept 30 - Oct 4 H. Publicity None FACSS XXIII, Kansas City, MO I. Tour Speaker Program - Alex Scheeline de- http://facss.org/info.html scribed the activities of the committee which included a survey of local sections for preferences with regard to 1997 tour speakers. J. William F. Meggers Award - Jim Holcombe in- March 16 - 21 dicated that the selection of the awardee(s) would be 48th PITTCON, Atlanta, GA made by mid-April. http://www.pittcon.org/ K. Lester W. Stock - Jo Ann Brown indicated that Richard Keller was chosen for the award. Sept 21-26 L. Lippincott Award - Jo Ann Brown indicated that XXIXth CSI G. Zerbe was chosen for the award. Melbourne, Australia http://www.latrobe.edu.au/www/xxxcsi/ XIV. AD-HOC REPORTS A. Internationalization (appended) Oct 25-31 B. World Wide Web - Nancy Miller-Ihli indicated FACSS XXIV, Providence, RI that the home page had significant traffic, that the page will likely include a format for the membership direc- tory, and that the possibility of an on-line applications 1998 newsletter is under consideration. March 1 - 6 C. Museum (appended) 49th PITTCON, New Orleans, LA Oct 11 - 16 XV. AFFILIATE'S REPORTS FACSS XXV, Austin, TX A. CESSE: Published in journal. B. CNIR: Published in journal. 1999 March 7 - 12 XVI. LIAISON REPRESENTATIVE'S REPORT Patsy Coleman indicated that dates for 1997 FACSS 50th PITTCON, Orlando, FL conference conflicted with this year's CSI meeting and Oct 24-29 FACSS XXVI, Vancouver, BC
Page 11 Treasurer’s Report
Page 12 President’s Report
Like all societies, SAS faces some interesting chal- lenges in the 1990’s but we have several exciting activi- ties planned for 1996 and I’ll give you a brief update on what is happening in this report. First, the SAS Executive Committee (E.C.) met for a retreat in Baltimore, in January to focus on what the most important initiatives for the society should be. It was a very beneficial meeting and we had both a facilita- tor (John Hook of Mt. St. Mary’s College) to help us with the process and we also had a non-profit consultant (Barbara Meyers who worked for ACS in the past) to provide us with some insights relative to membership promotions. Tasks were defined and responsibilities for moving forward were assigned to each of the partici- pants. Examples of some of the tasks I am involved with include: 1. Expanding the program for journal discounts to included wider variety of journals (presently JAAS, SAB, and Anal. Chem. Are available); 2. Task the Pub- licity Committee to increase publicity related to SAS job placement services and to expand interactions with vari- ous conferences; 3. Task the Awards Committee to ex- pand the awards program; 4. Task the World Wide Web Committee to expand the usage of the WWW. Another very exciting project which we started last fall relates to expansion of SAS membership. I sent a Ed Peck, Past-Treasurer charge to the Internationalization and Regionalization Marvin Margoshes, Treasurer Committee (Eileen Skelly Frame, chair) to evaluate the benefit of increasing international membership. I also asked them to evaluate the possibility of moving to re- News from the New York Section gional governance to avoid the huge problems we have in gaining a quorum for SAS governing board meetings. We will receive a preliminary report at this PittCon 96 meeting. TWO UNDERGRADUATE STUDENT AWARDS I wanted to specifically mention the fact that com- mittees have the benefit of having in hand in the newly At its May meeting, the New York Section gave Under- revised section of the SAS handbook appropriate to their graduate Student Award to two students at the College of committee. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to Peggy Saint Elizabeth, Morrtistown, NJ. The students, their Dean and Patsy Coleman for all of the efforts which research advisors, and the titles of their research projects went into the completion of the updated handbook! I am are: sure this document. will prove to be extremely useful. • Miss Kimberley Shuler (Asst. Prof. Kimberley Grant): Another area where there is significant activity is in Experimental and Theoretical Investigations of the membership education. We are fortunate to have Dave Structure of n-Propyl Ether Styris on board as coordinator-elect working with Jim de • Miss Grisel Valdeviezo (Sistser Marian Jose Smith): Haseth (coordinator) to develop some minicourses to Variations in the Secondary Structure of DNase II supplement our current educational programs. These mini-courses would be reasonably priced, ½ day courses Each student received $500, an award certificate, and a on a particular topic and will be offered at conferences one-year membership in SAS. Each of the research ad- such as FACSS and PittCon. Since SAS’s objective is visors also received a one-year membership. The Sec- “to advance and disseminate knowledge and information tion ordinarily selects one student each year for this concerning the art and science of spectroscopy and other award. Two were chosen this year because both were allied sciences...” it seems to me to be particularly im- equally qualified. portant for us to continue to provide educational oppor- tunities to our colleagues.
Page 13 I wanted to specifically comment on the SAS Spec- this method will be a more effective tool. The average trum which is the SAS newsletter. Mike Epstein, as our cost is approximately $.50 each, versus $.45 per mailed new newsletter editor is carrying on the tradition of ex- renewal notice (paper, envelope, and postage). cellence of his predecessors while giving this publication We have been working with the Eileen Skelly a new “face”. You’ll notice you will now receive the Frame, Chairman of the Membership Committee and the newsletter bundled with your journal and I think you’ll Executive Committee on different promotions. Most of find the new format exciting! the promotions will be covered in the Membership Com- SAS is very fortunate to have a large cadre of volun- mittee's report. teers who, working with the---SAS office, help maintain the vitality of the Society. It’s clear that the cost of do- Accounting: Due to the number of projects to be ing business continues to increase and that we need to be completed prior to Pittcon, the audit was moved to April. fiscally responsible. Our finances are not in nearly as We appreciate the Executive Committee's support in de- good a shape as in previous years and we all need to help laying this action. with cost containment. Our primary sources of income This year the office will be more actively involved are memberships and journal advertising and despite the in budgetary concerns. Financial statements will accom- strong efforts on the part of the membership committee pany each monthly report to the Executive Committee, and the SAS office, membership numbers are not in- along with any forecasting information that we can pro- creasing while inflation is. Please do your part to help us vide. In conjunction with our accountant, we have de- to recruit new members! I can assure you that the E.C. veloped a more effective mechanism to provide the Ex- and the SAS office are doing their part to try to cut costs ecutive Committee with budget forecasting. and sell journal advertising! Finally, 1996 marks the 50th anniversary of Applied Local Sections: Our office continues to work Spectroscopy. In honor of this, we will be hosting a spe- closely with the local section officers, establishing open cial SAS poster session at FACSS in Kansas City. Each lines of communication to foster new membership ideas, SAS member will receive an invitation to participate in and providing networking opportunities via breakfast this sociable, scientific event. Undergraduate and gradu- meetings, list server, and newsletter. ate students who participate will have their posters con- sidered for competition and 4 student winners will be Conferences: This year the Board will approve recognized. Jim Holcombe and Bruce Chase have those conferences - apart from FACSS, EAS, and Pittcon agreed to provide plaques and complimentary 1-year which SAS will have a booth. This will allow us a more memberships to the student award winners. It’s an event cost-effective plan for membership promotions, office that’s sure to be both scientifically stimulating and a lot staffing, and determination of journal printing runs. The of fun. I hope you’ll join us!! Society had a booth at the Winter Plasma Conference If you have suggestions relative to the Society, which proved very beneficial. please send me or any one of the E.C. Members an email or give us a call. You’ll find our phone and fax num- FACSS Conference: The office continues to work bers, and email addresses in the front of the journal. in accordance with the FACSS contract with the 1996 Thanks!! Kansas City committees. Upcoming FACSS Conference locations will be: 1997 - Providence, Rhode Island- Nancy Miller-Ihli 1998 Austin, Texas; 1999 - Vancouver. The FACSS SAS President contract is up for renewal this year.
Upcoming Projects: Our office will be working on the 1996 Membership Directory; various membership Executive Administrator’s promotions in conjunction with planned meetings; more Report active involvement with committee chairs; and ways to improve communication with the Executive Committee members. As always, the ongoing demand via fax, e- Membership: The total 1996 membership as of mail, mail, and telephone continues to climb upwards. February 19th was 2,748. On the third renewal notice, We are now averaging 1600 telephone calls per month. we decided to experiment; we sent the notices via differ- Our office has received more requests for mail lists for ent avenues - fax-blast, e-mail, and first-class regular 1996, due in part to companies doing more direct mail mail. The most effective method was the fax-blast. It campaigns. appears that people look at their faxed mail quickly and respond almost within 24 hours. Hopefully, by next year Membership addendum: As we step into the new we will have fax numbers for most SAS members, and
Page 14 year, we would like to show you some figures for last For ease of grouping in statistics, we have combined year. Our membership totals for last year as of July, some of the categories: 1995 were: Regular: 2691 Academic 572 20.2 Students: 358 Industry 1197 42.3 Retirees: 215 Government 385 13.6 Our Subscriber totals for last year were 1281. Students 209 7.4 Our total number of new members last year was 462. Retirees 169 6.0 Our total loss of members from 1994 was 693. Unknown 259 9.2 Our total number of members this year is 2721. Other 37 1.3 Our total number of Subscribers this year is 1021. Some of you have been interested in a formula that This might lead us to change the focus of our marketing calculates the dollar worth of one member. This is a long to more of an industrial perspective. It has always been and involved formula that has been designed by the ex- thought to have been more academic, but the numbers perts. This formula is derived from total income and ex- clearly show it is more industrial. penses from members. To apply this formula we would consider a promotion that we would like to offer. Then Jo Ann Brown we would determine the total dollar amount in expenses SAS Executive Administrator and apply the income of the lifetime value of a member rather than applying a $65 value for one time. This will tell us more accurately the amount of profit/income that would be derived from this promotion. Journal Editor’s Report The Society Office has been working diligently during the first quarter of 1996. some of the projects we Journal Focal Points for 1996 by issue: have worked on are: February • We have placed membership advertisements in Ap- *Focal Point: Near-Infrared Spectroscopy plied Spectroscopy for January, February, and are cur- May rently working on a boiler plate advertisement for *Focal Point: Vibrational Circular Dichroism March and a promotional advertisement for April. July • We have put out the first issue of the “Light ‘R’ Side” Focal Point: Ultrasensitive Analysis to the local section officers for 1996. We had great September participation for this issue including two meeting an- Focal Point: ICP-MS nouncements and a local section article on restructur- November ing the section volunteers. *Focal Point: NMR • We have the Pittcon ‘96 promotion approved and pre- (*denotes issues with special focus articles on Focal pared for the meeting in Chicago. We will be giving Point topic) away SAS T-Shirts to those who join and a $20 dis- count to those who join as regular members. New initiatives associated with the journal: • We have designed, received approval and will be Student biosketch. I intend on providing a few pages at mailing a verification of information card to all direc- the end of the technical papers listing a brief biosketch tory participants at the beginning of March. of student authors who are members of SAS. Polling of the Editorial Board on this concept was very positive. Professional Classifications of the SAS: An example of what this may look like is shown below. Academic 572 The name for this section has not been decided... sugges- Clinical laboratories 10 tions are welcome. Anticipated start date is January, Commercial laboratories 139 1997. Consulting firms 86 ======Government agencies 236 John B. Smith Industry 832 Education: BS(Chem) 1993 Colorado State University; Instrument companies 279 Ph.D. (Chem) U. of Texas at Austin (est. 1997) "Thesis Retirees 169 Title" (supervisor: Sally Risen) Students 209 Current research: John is involved in the design of a new Unknown 259 mass spectrometer system for the detection of negative Other 37 ions generated from an ICP with the intent of developing a technique for trace analysis of halogens and other elec- tronegative elements with a high electron affinity. He
Page 15 has recently achieved detection limits of 0.01 ppb of Cl in aqueous solutions. Newsletter Editor’s Report Other research interests: John is also interested in the application of deconvolution techniques to improve mass At the time of preparation of this report, the first spectral resolution of quadrupole mass filters. 1996 issue of the SAS Newsletter should be in press and E-mail: [email protected] hopefully available at the Pittsburgh Conference. That ======issue incorporates a number of changes in the format and Journal sponsorship of Student Poster Award at contents including an 8.5” x 11” size, distribution as a FACSS. At the request of Nancy Miller-lhli and Vahid supplement to the Applied Spectroscopy journal, and Majidi, who will be organizing the SAS poster session at expansion of topics into areas such as the history of FACSS, the journal will allot $350 to support awards to spectroscopy, profiles of well-known spectroscopists, as student-presented posters during the special SAS poster well as educational topics. session commemorating the 50th year of the journal. My ability to maintain the newsletter on the SAS SAS links for Applied Spectroscopy advertisers. SAS WWW site has been temporarily interrupted during my corporate sponsors and advertisers in the journal will tenure at Mount Saint Mary's College. I will be on-line receive a link to their home page or to a special page set again in early June and will update the site at that time. up by Allen Press. This project was done in conjunction The newsletter is currently being prepared using Mi- with Don Anderson (WWW Editor) and Ed MacMillan crosoft Publisher for Windows95 and there is no direct (Applied Spectroscopy’s representative at Allen Market- translation between that and HTML. However, a less ing) and his colleagues at Allen Press. In brief, a se- graphic version of the newsletter will be posted when lected topic of "Products and Services" will appear on time permits. the SAS home page. Upon selecting products and ser- The question has arisen regarding the possibility of vices, the viewer will move to a page set up by Allen advertising in the SAS newsletter. I have no strong ob- Press where products and services will be listed in alpha jection to that concept, and it would- certainly help me ordered by company. Each company will have 35 lines meet the budget for the publication. I agree that we must of searchable text describing what they provide. In the be careful not to rob the Journal of advertising income final rendition there will be at least two levels of display: and some scheme needs to be developed so that advertis- Companies who do not advertise in the journal or who ing in the newsletter is a extra bonus for those already are not corporate sponsors will have only their phone/fax advertising in the Journal. I would have no problem in- numbers listed while companies who are advertisers or serting camera-ready copy into the current newsletter corporate sponsors will have a hot link to a home page format. designed and managed by Allen Marketing (in coopera- I am disappointed not to be able to attend the Pitts- tion with the respective company) and the option of an burgh Conference and associated SAS activities this additional link from this page to the company’s home year, but look forward to future interactions as well as page. Allen Marketing will make all decisions regarding suggestions for improvements in the newsletter format criteria for advertising support necessary to warrant a hot and your contributions to future issues. link. Likewise, they will be responsible for coordinating all activities and covering all costs associated with data Mike Epstein entry and links to the respective companies. They will Newsletter Editor place on the initial page any companies that SAS pro- vides to them.
Role of Electronic Media and the journal. I have set Local Section Affairs up an ad hoc Electronic Publication Committee consist- Committee Report ing of Alex Scheeline (chair), Don Anderson, Jim de- Haseth and Eric Salin to explore the general question of The committee has five main functions. The first the role that electronic media should play in matters re- one is “To study, and make recommendations concern- lated to publications of SAS. They have been asked to ing problems affecting local sections.” It is probably the provide some preliminary reports by the 1996 FACSS most important function of the committee but is also the meeting. least known one. the main goal of the committee for 1996 is to address it. The second goal is to involve more James A. Holcombe local sections in the process of nominating themselves Editor-in-Chief, Applied Spectroscopy for the William J. Poehlman Award and students for the Graduate Student Award. Looking at the results of the previous years only one or two sections participated. The
Page 16 process of nomination must be made simpler. In short, the unanimous consensus was that both Jim 1996 Plans (Q1,Q2) Holcombe and Bruce Chase have done an outstanding job as editor-in-chief and editor of the Journal. They February-March: both should be highly praised for their hard work and • Send introductory letter with questionnaire to address significant accomplishments. needs/concerns/suggestions to all officers of Local Sections. Vahid Majidi, Chair • Send announcement letter for SAS Student Award and Publications Committee Poehlman Award to all Local Section Chairs. Include the form for nominations. The deadline for receipt of materials is April 1, 1996.
April-May Internationalization and • Review submitted nominations. complete selection process by June 1, 1996. Regionalization Committee • Summarize questionnaires received from Local Sec- tions. Suggest some action items to resolve Local Sec- The ad-hoc committee responded to questions presented tion concerns if any. to the committee from Nancy Miller-Ihli. The committee responses are summarized briefly below: June Internationalization: The committee was in favor • Notify SAS President and Secretary of the committee of actively recruiting members outside of the US. Con- award selection results. cerns were raised about exactly how this would be done, especially in those countries with existing spectroscopy July societies. The committee felt that we have enough mem- • Send information about award winners to the FACSS bers/library subscriptions outside the US to help in this Program Committee for inclusion in the final FACSS effort. meeting program. The committee opinion was in favor of a “one-price • Send information about award winners to the editors for all regular members” structure, but not funded by a of the Newsletter and the Journal for inclusion in their hike in overall dues. It was the majority opinion that cur- September Issue. rent SAS members would not support a $20-$25 increase • Send congratulatory letters to both award winners. in dues to subsidize out of US mailing costs. External sources of income were suggested to fund such a plan. Rina K. Dukor, Chair A wide variety of opinions as to what outside of US SAS Local Section Affairs Committee members would be interested in as benefits was put forth. The best suggestion is probably to survey our cur- rent outside of US members on what they want, and use that as a basis for planning a marketing strategy. Committee opinion generally agreed that increased Publications Committee outside of US membership should not be at the cost of a lowering of benefits to current members. Report Regionalization: The committee felt that the idea of regional governance was important, especially to accom- The Publication committee was charged with two modate large numbers of outside of US members and to tasks for the upcoming year. The committee is currently operation of the Governing Board (maybe ease of meet- examining the possibility of establishing a peer-reviewed ing quorum), but were equally vocal about the problems methods/application newsletter. As a committee, we to be faced with active local sections, communication have not had a chance to explore various options be- from members to regional delegates and other important cause we had to finish the second year review of the issues in both the “why” and “how” categories. The ma- Journal editors. Nonetheless, we are planning to com- jority favored consideration of the idea, while pointing plete this task within the next few months. out implementation issues that will need to be addressed. The committee’s primary goal was to complete the The majority of the committee agreed that regions second year review of the Journal editors. To accomplish are an approach to incorporating outside of US mem- this, the committee sent out an extensive survey to the bers, but the real question of whether representatives members of the editorial board and the publication com- from far reaches of the globe will attend the Governing mittee. The complete unedited version of this report is Board meetings was raised. the answers to the question available at my office. related to number of regions and delegates in the prelim-
Page 17 inary proposal from Miller-Ihli were equally split be- in the building will continue for the next several years. tween yes (or maybe) and no. the biggest concerns from However, plans are underway to move the instruments the no voters were the lack of recognition for current that are currently being stored in Delaware following the large active local sections and the lack of proportional Antiquities Display at the 1994 Pittcon in Chicago to the representation. The question of whether proportion rep- new site in Philadelphia. These include six different in- resentation is a desired end needs to be addressed. An struments with two of them being classic emission spec- alternate plan was proposed by Griffiths. trometers. The majority of the committee were not in favor of We need the support of all fellow members of the separating out local section dues and/or making them SAS to make the Instrumentation Museum a reality. optional. E. G. Brame, Jr., Chair Eileen Skelly Frame, Chair CIMB and Museum Committee Internationalization and Regionalization Committee Nomination of John Johnson Museum Committee Report for Emeritus Membership The Museum Committee of the SAS in conjunction with the Chemical Instrumentation Museum Group The New York Section of SAS, in a letter from Marvin (CIMG) of the Chemical Heritage Foundation has been Margoshes, section secretary, dated December 28, 1995, developing plans for raising seed funds and at the same nominated John Johnson for the status of Emeritus Mem- time carrying them out. Contacts have been made and ber of the SAS for his quiet and unfailing service to the will continue to be made over the coming months with New York Section and the National Society, and particu- instrument companies and their leaders along with key larly for his activities in promoting membership in SAS organizations to secure funds for the endowment of the at the Eastern Analytical Symposium. museum. This effort is vitally important in order for the museum to become a reality. At the meeting of the CIMG that was last held in conjunction with the EAS in November, a policy on col- Report of the SAS Delegate lection of instruments was begun. At that meeting Roy to FACSS Koirtyohann volunteered to put together a list of all pos- sible kinds of instruments for including in the museum. Both SAS delegates (Vahid Majidi and Davis Trim- So, if anyone has their ideas of any particular instru- ble) were present at the March 8, 1996 FACSS Govern- ments that should be included, please contact him. He ing Board meeting. The following items, relevant to can be reached at 573-687-3047 or by FAX at 573-882- SAS, were discussed during the meeting. 2754. Carnahan provided a report on the Cincinnati meet- Publicity of the museum effort is making strides ing which stated that the meeting finished $15K in the from the American Laboratory article of June 1995 to black. Treasurer (Brewster) reported that the FACSS the Guest Editorial in Applied Spectroscopy in Septem- bank account holds approximately $25K. Later, Majidi ber 1995 to an article in the Pittsburgh Today for use at motioned for consideration of a funds distribution from the 1996 Pittsburgh Conference. In addition, the spring the '96 meeting as per the bylaws. Scheeline moved to publication of the Chemical Heritage Foundation’s table the motion, which was approved unanimously. Chemical Heritage Newsletter contains an article on the Long range planning (LRP) committee provided a Museum’s plans. other articles are either just appearing report which announced that the '97 FACSS meeting will or will be appearing in Analytical Chemistry and Clini- have to be moved to Providence, Rhode Island due to an cal Chemistry News. These articles are putting the mu- overlap with the CSI conference. IRP recommended seum on the map. Besides the various articles CIMG has siting FACSS 2001 in Detroit. Location in 2000 was not a booth at this years Pittcon exhibit to promote the mu- addressed because of difficulties in '97. seum and its plans as well as to receive feedback. Come Bourassa expressed concern over requirements that and see us at BOOTH #3023. might constrain FACSS to a rotation through specific Finally, the site for the museum is currently under- th sites. He motioned that FACSS not be constrained to a going renovations. It was purchased last July 30 and fixed rotation schedule which was seconded by Galle. the staff of the Chemical Heritage Foundation moved into the partially renovated building at 315 Chestnut Street in Philadelphia, PA during January. Renovations
Page 18 The motion carried unanimously. Barber (Nominations Committee) reported that Retrospectives: the '98 GB chair nominee was John Graham and the General Chair for '98 was David Laude. Bar- The First SAS National bour reported that Chris Brown had expressed in- terest in being Program Chair for '97. The voting Meeting - June 1962 results were: Chris Brown approved unanimously pending his acceptance; Graham - 8 in favor with 4 In 1962 the Baltimore-Washington Section was abstentions; Laude - 11 in favor with 1 abstention. host to an International Conference on Spec- Barbour reported that the FACSS contract was troscopy. The Tenth Colloquium Spectroscopicum negotiated for two years and is up for renewal at Internationale was also designated the First Na- the end of October this year (1996). Changes such tional Meeting of the Society for Applied Spec- as the use of Conferon and the closing of the Man- troscopy. The surplus funds from this meeting hattan office need to be factored into the new con- were donated to establish a fund for use by other tract. A second related problem is that there now Sections of the Society sponsoring national meet- exists no clear distinction between FACSS and ings in succeeding year. National meetings have SAS. A committee will be set up to gather the been held annually since that time. facts and report in the fall. Miller-Ihli reported The meeting program reads like a Who’s Who that SAS will have an audit of their national office. of spectroscopy One area which will be examined is the time spent and SAS, both by personnel in executing the FACSS contract. young and old. Scheeline moved that the ad hoc committee be The Advisory empowered to employ a consultant at a fair fee to Board included advise FACSS on how we can interact with the na- W.R. Brode, H. tional office. Stetter suggested that we choose a Kaiser, W.F. different contractor to avoid a conflict of interest. Meggers, A.C. Scheeline indicated that SAS’s consultant had sub- Menzies, and A. stantial expertise in evaluating various chemical Walsh. The Or- The Organizing Committee at work entities and could provide useful information. The ganizing Commit- (photo by Carl Leistner) motion was approved unanimously. tee consisted of The meeting adjourned by 7:31 p.m. Bourdon Scribner (general chairman), Marvin Mar- goshes (secretary), Alvin Bober (treasurer), Ellis Vahid Majidi Lippincott (program committee chair), Andy Rekus SAS Delegate to FACSS (finance chair), Robert Michaelis (recreation), Harry Rose (arrangements chair), Leo May (grants- in-aid), Ed Garlock (social events) and many more. Can you identify this loca- Among the many well-known speakers were C. Th. J. Alkemade, Velmer Fassel, Fred Brech, L. S. Birks, K. Fuwa, B. L. Vallee. There are too many luminaries to mention here. The program and ab- stracts were published in Applied Spectroscopy (Vol 16, 1962, p. 44). The conference was held on the campus of the University of Maryland in College Park. With a registration fee of $15 that included the General Reception and an old-fashioned Maryland chicken barbecue, this was quite a bargain. Other events included a cruise down the Potomac River to Mount Vernon, a U.S. Marine Band concert, and a Hint: No, it’s not the site of the next SAS golf tournament, the latter organized by Bob Executive Committee Meeting ...
Page 19 Michaelis, of course. The conference was a smashing success, both Spectroscopist Profile from page 9 scientifically and socially, and thanks to Carl Leistner, who contributed a large number of pho- true railroad aficionado, Bourdon also main- tographs of the early years of SAS to the National tains an interest in model railroading, having Office, we are able to return to those days of built in his basement an HO-scale model of the yesteryear: Washington D.C. railway system in the days of the steam train. Bourdon retired from NBS in 1973 as Deputy Chief of the Analytical Chemistry Di- vision. Perhaps Bourdon’s greatest honor oc- curred in 1972, when the Committee E-2 on Emission Spectroscopy of the American Soci- ety for Testing Materials established the B.F. Scribner Award for standards service in emis- Phil and Andy Rekus sion spectroscopy. The tenth recipient of that dance aboard the cruise award was Bourdon Scribner. As noted by the ship. ASTM Board Chairman, Bourdon’s 46 years of service and dedication definitely illustrated his worthiness of having this award named af- ter him and receiving it as well.
The authors have drawn on a number of sources for this article, not the least of which was “Remembering Early Days at NBS, 1923-1949” by B.F. Scribner. Oth- ers included “Sea-Going Spectroscopist”, by Roger G. Bates, Capital Chemist, October 1956; “CSTL History: Bourdon F. Scribner” by Doug Olson, CSTL Update, Autumn 1994; and “Measures for Progress: A History of the NBS”, R.C. Cochrane, Arno Press, 1976. Special thanks to Charles Beck, analytical chemist and unoffi- cial chemical historian of NIST, and especially to Bour- don Scribner for his generous cooperation with the au- Sir Alan Walsh (center) and col- thors in preparing this manuscript. leagues enjoying the cruise. Finally, Bourdon Scribner asked that we express his special gratitude to all his colleagues, both at NBS and in ASTM committee E-2, for their hard work and friendship throughout his career.
Velmer Fassel, Ellis Lippincott, Mrs. Lippin- cott, and Bourdon Scribner (left to right). Marvin Margoshes and Al DeLeonardi take a break.
Page 20 History of Spectroscopy: the Allison Effect day effect in that cell can restore the direction of continued from page 24 polarization defined by the first polarizer. There- fore, light will pass the system. Now, all we have (later Auburn University) is similarly credited in to do is shorten the length of the wire to the second the 1994 and 1996 editions of Microsoft Encarta. cell (a distance corresponding to the time delay of The so-called Allison Effect was one of the the Faraday effect in the second liquid) until we instances of pathological science discussed by Irv- see a minimum in the light throughput of the sys- ing Langmuir in his 1953 lecture that was reprinted tem (i.e., the Faraday effects of both liquids over- in PHYSICS TODAY, Oct 1989, P. 36. Why did lap) and we have defined the time delay, which is Allison make the assumptions that led him to the characteristic of the liquid B. claims that he made? Unfortunately for Allison, (a) the true tempo- As spectroscopists, perhaps we can judge Alli- ral length of the spark meant that he was looking son far less harshly than Langmuir. Let’s examine for a minimum that corresponded to a decrease of his apparatus in detail. Look at the instrument dia- perhaps one part per hundred to one part per thou- gram. This scheme might have worked if the radia- sand in the light level, and (b) he was trying to do tion from the spark light source was temporally this in a spark whose intensity varied perhaps 10% very short (ns) and very stable. Unfortunately, a to 20% for each pulse. This was further compli- single light pulse from a spark (which is repeated cated by the fact that the spark pulse is not a uni- rapidly as the capacitor charges and discharges) is form pulse, but oscillates considerably in intensity on the order of microseconds, but this was not gen- within each pulse. eral knowledge at the time. Anyway, the idea was He started this work with J. Beams at the Uni- to take the light pulse from the spark and pass it versity of Virginia and Beams himself continued through a polarizing prism (see Nicol prism col- his work with this effect and sparks but then went umn in chart). The light pulse then passes through on to other things. It is not clear whether he ever two cells that are wrapped with wire. The wire discovered his mistake, but he certainly never goes to the spark circuit so (theoretically) when the pushed the technique. On the other hand, Allison capacitor discharges across the spark gap, current began to make grandiose claims that compounds flows through the coils and a magnetic field is ap- when dissolved gave delay minima corresponding plied to the cells. With certain liquids in the cell, to the compounds (NOT the ions!) and that the ef- the plane of polarization of the light passing fect was the same down to 10-8 M and then disap- through them is rotated. Now the coil around the peared. By the early 1930’s, the ACS eventually second cell is wound completely opposite to the refused to accept any more papers on Magneto- first cell. Therefore, if the same liquid is in each optic Spectroscopy, but not before a good deal of cell, and the magnetic field is applied to each cell debunking took place and Allison claimed to pass at the same time, the second cell will reverse the *blind* tests of his methodology. Faraday effect on the first cell, thus restoring the What is most telling is that the “hero” of last direction of polarization defined by the first polar- issue’s History of Spectroscopy, Robert Wood, izer. A final polarizer (Nicol prism) is placed after who debunked N-Rays, was taken in by the Allison the second cell and oriented 90 degrees out of Effect. It is referenced in a very straightforward phase of the first polarizer. Thus, no light should manner in his book, Physical Optics! Why was pass through the system. Now, say we have two Wood fooled? Perhaps because at the state-of-the- different liquids in the cells and there is a delay art in knowledge of spark spectroscopy in the between the application of the magnetic field to the 1920s, Allison's technique might have worked. It cell and the appearance of the Faraday effect, and was Allison's dogmatic refusal to accept that he this delay depends on the identity of the liquid. made a mistake that made this episode truly patho- This is what Allison was claiming. If the light logical. pulse passes through the first cell (containing liq- Of course, as I noted earlier in this article, it uid A) and its polarization is changed, it will pass looks like we are still being fooled by the Allison through the second cell (containing liquid B with a Effect ... at least Columbia University Press and longer delay in the Faraday effect) before the Fara- Funk & Wagnalls are... continued on page 22
Page 21 History of Spectroscopy: the Allison Effect continued from page 21
Editor’s notes: I’d welcome further comments on my interpretation of this piece of spectro- scopic history, particularly since I am not par- ticularly knowledgeable in spark emission spectroscopy. Your comments will be published in a subsequent issue. Special thanks are due to Walter Rowe, Professor of Forensic Science at George Washington University, who introduced me to the work of Fred Allison and provided many helpful references, and Alex Scheeline, Profes- sor of Chemistry at the University of Illinois- Urbana, who helped to reduce my ignorance of spark emission spectroscopy. Identify the two former (or current) SAS officers shown in the above photograph. Send your entry to the SAS National Office at 201B Broadway Street, Frederick, MD 21701-6501. The winner will be selected by random drawing from all the correct answers on Oct 31. Your entry should include your name, postal address, and T-Shirt size requested.
Page 22 The Society for Applied Spectroscopy recognizes the advertising support of these Fine Companies
International Crystal Laboratories Galactic Industries Corp. Bruker Instruments, Inc. Axiom Analytical, Inc. Chemplex Industries, Inc. Perkin-Elmer Corp. Detection Limit MTEC Photoacoustics, Inc. Spectrum Square Associates Bomem Now Optics Spectra-Tech Inc. Pike Technologies McPherson Infometrix, Inc. Starna Cells, Inc. Camo AS Graseby Specac Acton Research Corporation Nicolet Analytical Virolac Industries CIC Photonics, Inc. McCarthy Scientific Co. Fiveash Data Management Midac Corporation Zeebac, Inc. These companies are advertising in each 1996 issue of Applied Spectroscopy. Please show your support for their products and services.
The S.A.S. Spectrum, the newsletter of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy, is published three times a year as a supplement to the Society’s Journal, Applied Spectroscopy. The newsletter layout is prepared on a Dell PC using Microsoft Publisher 3.0 and an H.P. Laserjet 5L, and printed by Allen Press.
Members of the S.A.S. Executive Committee: Treasurer: Marvin Margoshes 69 Midland Avenue President: Nancy Miller-Ihli Tarrytown, NY 10591 USDA-NCL, Bldg. 161, Rm 1, BARC-EAST 914-631-2699 (voice and fax) Beltsville, MD 20705 [email protected] 301-504-8252 (voice) 301-504-8314 (fax) Executive Administrator: Bonnie A. Saylor [email protected] Society for Applied Spectroscopy, 201B Broadway St President-Elect: Kathryn Kalasinsky Frederick, MD 21701-6501 Armed Forces Institute of Pathology 301-694-8122 (voice) 301-694-6860 (fax) Division of Forensic Toxicology [email protected] 1413 Research Boulevard Newsletter Editor: Michael S. Epstein Rockville, MD 20706 13507 Old Annapolis Road 301-319-0055 (voice) 301-319-0628 (fax) Mount Airy, MD 21771-7723 [email protected] 301-831-7992 (voice) 301-869-0413 (fax) Past-President: David M. Coleman [email protected] Wayne State University, Department of Chemistry Journal Editor: James A. Holcombe Detroit, MI 48202 University of Texas at Austin, Chemistry Department 313-577-2586 (voice) 313-577-3255 (fax) Austin, TX 78712-1167 [email protected] 512-471-5140 (voice) 512-471-0985 (fax) Secretary: John A. Koropchak holcombe@ uts.cc.utexas.edu Southern Illinois University, Department of Chemistry Membership Education Coordinator Carbondale, IL 62901 James A. deHaseth 618-453-5721 (voice) 618-453-6408 (fax) University of Georgia, Chemistry Department [email protected] Athens, GA 30602 706-542-1968 [email protected] Page 23 HISTORY OF SPECTROSCOPY
The Allison Effect: The Magneto-Optic Method of Spectrochemical Analysis by Mike Epstein During the first 40 years of the 20th century, scientists were eagerly trying to find real evidence compounds would retain their individual maxima for the existence of elements 85 and 87, which had in a mixture, regardless of the other components. been predicted by Mendeleyev in the late 19th cen- He claimed a sensitivity down to less than part-per- tury. It was during this time that Fred Allison, an billion levels, and he began to use his method to American physicist, devised an analytical method search for the elusive elements 85 and 87. He that he called the magneto-optic method of chem- rapidly found them and published studies on spec- ical analysis. tra and compounds of virginium and alabamine. The method was based on the comparison of His results were replicated in part by several other the difference in response of the Faraday effect in- laboratories, but detailed examination by others duced in different liquids (Allison, F. (1927). The (MacPherson, H. G. (1934). An investigation of effect of wavelength on the differences in the lags the Magneto-Optic Method of Chemical Analysis. of the faraday effect be- Physical Review, 47, hind the magnetic field for 310-315) proved conclu- various liquids. Physical sively that the maxima Review, 30, 66-70). The observed by Allison and Faraday effect involves others “had no objective the rotation of polarized reality” and “were not a light passing through a function of the chemical liquid, and induced by a solutions used.” magnetic field applied to The Allison the liquid. He constructed magneto-optic method an apparatus in which disappeared from the light from a high-voltage pages of scientific jour- spark was directed nals. In retrospect, the through crossed polarizers and two tubes contain- modern analytical spectroscopist can easily find ing the liquids to be analyzed, and surrounded by errors in Allison's reasoning. He never offered a coils of opposite winding. The time at which the substantial theory to explain his observations, but magnetic field was applied to the different liquids more importantly, he ignored several experimental could be varied by adjusting the distance the elec- factors that limited his approach from the start. tric current had to travel to reach the cells. The This was a classic example of the investigator find- observer looked for a minimum in the light from ing what he believed in. But it certainly didn’t hurt the spark, which indicated the delay in the appear- his career, since his biography lists him as head of ance of the Faraday effect (relative to the reference the Auburn physics department and dean of the liquid) after the magnetic field had been applied. graduate school in 1953, with the physics building Allison first applied this procedure to simple at Auburn named in his honor. Furthermore, he is solutions of carbon bisulfide and hydrochloric acid still listed as the discover of astatine (i.e., element and later to mixtures. He became convinced that 85, alabamine) in the 1991 Concise Columbia En- cyclopedia and the work at Alabama Polytechnic
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