Reminiscences and lessons on the occasion of a silver jubilee

Abstract

This paper, written to commemorate the publication of Walsh's classical paper on the potentialities of atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) 25 years ago, contains nothing new. It is a personal recollection of the work done independently at our laboratory prior to 1955 which resulted in the construction of a “negative filter” (for use in atomic emission spectroscopy) and an “absorption flame photometer.” Some lessons are drawn from the historical development of AAS about the inventing of new analytical methods in general.