The Story

I have mentioned, in Electrochemical Processes, how electrochemistry combined my two special scientific interests, electronics and chemistry. But that was also true in the wider area of chemical instrumentation. I was always fascinated by how things worked, and the opportunity to conceive new devices became the central and ongoing aspect of my scientific career.

It began with being among the first to see the potential for analog operational amplifiers for electrochemical measurement and control and then the advent of the laboratory digital computer added digital processes. The evolution of ‘op-amps’ from vacuum tubes through transistors to integrated circuits is shown in the illustration for this category.

The first instruments I developed were for electrochemical analysis, but when I acquired a computer, (the story of how that came about is in the Triple Quadrupole and MS/MS category) I began to see its potential in spectroscopy as well.

Others worked out how to connect the outflow from a gas chromatograph to a mass spectrometer to produce the first GC/MS instrument. The problem was that the sector mass spectrometer had to scan across its mass range while the chromatograph continued to produce peaks of the sample components. I saw the potential to use time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometry, with its much greater spectral generation rate instead. This required improvements in the resolution of TOF instruments and automation of data collection. The references show our contributions in all these areas. TOF remains a top choice for the second mass separation stage in MS/MS instruments.

Publications and Patents in chemical instrumentation (other than mass spectrometry)

The people who collaborated with me in this work are, Richard Baxter, William Weir, Louis Ramaley, Donald Johnson, Brian Hahn, Richard Coolen, Nicholas Papadakis, James Avery, James Dye, Timothy Nieman, James Holler, Stanley Crouch, Thomas Last, Keith Caserta, Richard Yost, Erik Carlson, Paul Tyma, Michael Weaver, Edward Darland, James Hornshuh, George Leroi, D. M. Rider, F. P. Tully, Howard Malmstadt, James Avery, Phillip Hoffman, John Allison, John Holland, John Stultz, J. David Pinkston, Bruce Newcome, J. Throck Watson, Richard Crawford, Hal Brand, Carla Wong, Hugh Gregg, Linda Jones, Carl Myerholtz, Adam Shubert, Michael Kristo, Bruce Wilson, Jun Chai, George Yefchak, Damaschin Ioanoviciu, Mark LaPack, R. E. Tecklenberg, Michael Davenport, James Tou, Lawrence Janow, Paul Vlasak, Douglas Beussman, Qinchung Ji, Mark Cole, Jun Zhang, and Benjamin Gardner.

1964 Controlled Potential Polarograph
1964 Triangular Sweep Generator
1965 Double Layer Capacitance Measurement
1965 Isomation with Spectrometry
1970 Bipolar Pulse Conductance Technique
1971 Data Domains in Measurements
1974 Hg Drop Fall Detector
1975 Stopped-Flow Data System
1976 Computer-Controlled Vidicon Spectrometer
1976 Reaction Rate Determination of Cyanamide
1976 Stopped-Flow flow rate measurement
1977 Analog Storage Register
1977 Computerized Rapid Temperature Measurement
1978 Computer Controlled Bipolar Pulse Conductivity
1978 Ion Fragmentation in Tandem Quadrupole MS
1979 Vidicon Spectrometer for stopped-flow
1979 Hg Drop Synchronizer
1979 Photon Pulse Counter
1980 Photoionization Mass Spectrometer
1980 Cursor Control for Interactive Graphics
1982 Computers in Scientific instrumentation
1982 Electronics & Microcomputers Principles
1982 Frontiers, Beyond Mere Automation
1983 Inter-processor Communication Program
1983 Realistic Expectations for Chromatography MS
1984 Conductivity and Conductometry
1984 MS-MS Data Base System
1984 Patent Transient recorder I
1984 Pulsed Laser Data Acquisition
1984 Twin-bus Microprocessor System
1985 FORTH Language for Instrument Control
1985 TOF-MS Control System
1985 Triple-Quadrupole Software
1986 Modelling Quadrupole Ion Trajectory
1987 GC-MS by TOF MS
1988 Dual Mode photon-particle detector
1989 Peak Finding for MS/MS
1989 Space & Energy Focusing in TOF
1989 Second-order Electrostatic Mirror
1990 Beam Deflection in TOF MS
1990 Membrane Mass Spectrometry
1990 Time-Lag Focusing in TOF MS
1991 Integrating Transient Recorder
1991 Membrane Extraction MS
1994 Patent Transient recorder II
1994 Maximizing Chromatographic Power w TOF
1996 Comb Deflection Gate for TOF MS
1996 Ion Trap Source for Chromatographic Detection
1996 Valved Sample Cell for Membrane MS
1996 Broad Energy Range Reflectrons
1998 Unique Capabilities of TOF Analyzers
2000 3-Element Cylindrical Ion Mirror
2000 3-Element Ion Mirror
2000 Gridless Ion Mirror
2003 Patent Ion mirror
2015 The Analog Revolution
2022 Elements of Measurement