128 LCGC NORTH AMERICA VOLUME 20 NUMBER 2 FEBRUARY 2002 www.chromatographyonline.com Fifty Years of Gas Chromatography — The Pioneers I Knew, Part I MMilestonesilestones inin he First International Congress on longer among us. In the first three decades Chromatography Analytical Chemistry was held in of GC they were most active in the devel- T September 1952 in Oxford, United opment of the technique and its applica- Kingdom. The highlight of this meeting tions. They participated at the meetings, was a lecture on “Gas–Liquid Chromatog- lecturing on their newest results, and one raphy: a Technique for the Analysis of could not find any publication in which Volatile Materials,” by A.J.P. Martin (1). their work would not be quoted. They were Almost simultaneously, the seminal paper the true pioneers of GC. of A.T. James and A.J.P. Martin on the the- Rudolf Kaiser, one of the still-active pio- This column is the first of ory and practice of this technique (the neers, once said that chemists usually don’t a two-part “Milestones in manuscript of which was submitted on quote any paper that is more than seven Chromatography” series 5 June 1951) was published in Biochemical years old; this material belongs in the Journal (2), and within a few weeks it was archives and is no longer part of a “living dealing with the life and announced that Martin and R.L.M. Synge science.” In this two-part “Milestones in activities of key would receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry Chromatography” column, I want to chromatographers who “for the invention of partition chromatog- change this opinion. My aim is to resurrect were active during the raphy.” these pioneers and present them as living Since these events, the evolution of gas human beings. I will summarize briefly early unparalleled growth chromatography (GC) has been unparal- their scientific achievements but will deal and expansion of gas leled in the history of chemistry. It was the mainly with them as colleagues and friends chromatography. In the right technique introduced at the right who worked in close contact, collaboration, time, when the new petrochemical indus- and cooperation with their peers. present installment, tries were looking for better methods for I added A.J.P. Martin to the list of Leslie Ettre discusses the analysis of their complex raw materials deceased chromatographers discussed here. eight pioneers. and products. These companies were the Without his activities none of us would be first to utilize the new technique, but they in this field, and this magazine would not soon were followed by other chemical labo- exist; thus, it is most fitting that when ratories. Within a decade, GC became the speaking about the pioneers, we start with most widely used analytical technique and him. The others will follow in alphabetical gave rise to the modern era of instrumental order. I divided the discussion into two analysis. parts, dealing with the first eight pioneers I started in GC in 1957, five years after in this article. Part II will follow in a later its inception, first in charge of an industrial issue of LCGC. GC laboratory. In a little more than one My discussion is based on numerous year I joined Perkin-Elmer, and during the sources, including the individual entries in next 30 years I actively participated in the the book 75 Years of Chromatography — evolution of the technique. I also had the A Historical Dialogue, which was published opportunity to participate at frequently in 1979 (3); various anniversary editorials; held symposia and to visit many laborato- award announcements and obituaries; and ries on five continents. I was fortunate to my personal recollections. know most of the pioneers of GC, not only professionally, but also socially, and I estab- A.J.P. Martin (1910– ) lished fairly close relationships with a num- In a rare, candid, and very personal inter- ber of them. Therefore, I felt that the most view (4), Archer Martin discussed in detail fitting way to celebrate the 50-year anniver- his early life and his university years at Leslie S. Ettre sary of GC is to reminisce about the pio- Cambridge, United Kingdom. Originally, Milestones in Chromatography neers I knew. I arbitrarily selected a few key he planned to become a chemical engineer Editor chromatographers, most of whom are no but changed to biochemistry on the influ- 130 LCGC NORTH AMERICA VOLUME 20 NUMBER 2 FEBRUARY 2002 www.chromatographyonline.com ence of J.B.S. Haldane, then a reader in carry out any systematic research with expressed by S.R. Lipsky, these conversa- biochemistry. After graduation, Martin notable finished results. This does not tions “certainly have to be considered some remained at the university’s Dunn Nutri- mean that he was idle; he presented a num- of the most exhilarating, intensive, and tion Laboratory, where, among other ber of very interesting lectures that pre- exhausting exercises — an ‘intellectual endeavors, he tended to 30 pigs while dicted further developments in chromatog- encounter of the highest order,’ if you will working on the antipellegra factor. He met raphy, carried out some basic investigation — that one can experience” (9). R.L.M. Synge in 1938, and their associa- into electrophoresis, and studied the possi- Martin’s last public appearance was in tion led to the development of partition bility of scaling down laboratory opera- May 1985, when he received an honorary chromatography, which was discussed in a tions. Particularly, his discussion of such doctorate from the University of Urbino recent “Milestones” column (5). Between possibilities, originally presented at the (Italy), where his 75th birthday was cele- 1948 and 1956 Martin was associated with 1962 Hamburg Symposium (8), is most brated by a representative symposium that the laboratories of the British Medical intriguing. However, I cannot compare this was attended by many of his friends and Research Council: it was there that he period to his golden decade during which admirers (10). By then, his tragic illness developed gas–liquid partition chromatog- partition chromatography and its variations had already started to overwhelm him. At raphy with A.T. James, a young associate. — liquid column, paper, and gas chro- the writing of these words, he is still alive, In his autobiography, George A. Olah, matography — were developed. suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. who was awarded the Nobel Prize in I heard a story about Archer in Houston Without question, Archer Martin can Chemistry in 1994, mentions the fre- that probably best characterizes his activi- be considered one of the most original quently stated opinion that the Nobel Prize ties in the later period of his life. At the thinkers in science. He belongs to the small often represents the de facto end of the University of Houston he occupied the group of people who changed the face of recipient’s active research career (6). In Robert A. Welch Foundation Chair, a very chemistry and biochemistry. essence, this was true about Martin. After prestigious endowment. After the first year, receiving his Nobel Prize he wanted to be he found that the foundation required a Fabrizio Bruner (1935–1996) involved in different matters. He first set up periodic report on the awardee’s activities. Fabrizio Bruner belongs to the second gen- his own company to manufacture and sell After some consideration, he wrote a brief eration of chromatographers who contin- certain devices for chromatographs (7), but report consisting of a single sentence: “I ued the work of the early pioneers and this venture was unsuccessful. He started to was thinking.” Indeed, Archer was full of enhanced it with their own contributions. serve as consultant to some companies and ideas up until the end of his professional He was born, raised, and educated in also had a number of academic appoint- life, when illness finally stopped him. It was Rome. Despite his German-sounding ments in The Netherlands (University of a great pleasure to have the opportunity to name, he was a real Romano di Roma: his Technology, Eindhoven), United Kingdom sit down with him and discuss the widest ancestors lived in the Eternal City for at (University of Sussex, in Brighton), the variety of questions, be they about science, least five generations. Fabrizio received his United States (University of Houston, sociology, or philosophy. He always had doctorate from the University of Rome in Texas) and Switzerland (Federal Technical some interesting ideas, although some 1960 with a thesis on capillary GC. After University, Lausanne). However, he did not might have sounded somewhat unusual. As graduation, he remained at the university as a member of the Analytical Chemistry Research Group of the Italian Research Council (CNR). In 1966, he had the good fortune to be able to join Prof. Klaus Bie- mann at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, Cambridge, Massachu- setts). He spent two years at MIT, where he learned the intricacies of modern mass spectrometry (MS). Upon returning to Italy, Fabrizio joined the Air Pollution Research Institute of CNR, where he advanced to the position of research direc- tor. He also became an adjunct professor at the University of Rome. Fabrizio’s plan was to become a full pro- fessor at Rome University eventually. How- ever, according to the Italian system, young scientists usually start at one of the regional universities and later advance to a major school. Accordingly, in 1975 he was appointed professor incaricato (about equiva- lent to an associate professorship without tenure in the United States) at the Univer- sity of Urbino and started to teach physico- Archer Martin (center) with Denis Desty (left) and Victor Pretorius (right) (University of Pretoria, chemistry and analytical chemistry.