Landmark Publications in Analytical Atomic Spectrometry: Fundamentals and Instrumentation Development

George C-Y Chan^{1

2}, Gary M Hieftje^{3

2}, Nicoló Omenetto^{4

2}, Ove Axner⁵, Arne Bengtson⁶, Nicolas H Bings⁷, Michael W Blades⁸, Annemie Bogaerts⁹, Mikhail A Bolshov¹⁰, José A C Broekaert¹¹, WingTat Chan¹², José M Costa-Fernández¹³, Stanley R Crouch^{14

15}, Alessandro De Giacomo¹⁶, Alessandro D'Ulivo¹⁷, Carsten Engelhard^{18

19}, Heinz Falk²⁰, Paul B Farnsworth²¹, Stefan Florek²², Gerardo Gamez²³, Igor B Gornushkin¹⁸, Detlef Günther²⁴, David W Hahn²⁵, Wei Hang²⁶, Volker Hoffmann²⁷, Norbert Jakubowski²⁸, Vassili Karanassios²⁹, David W Koppenaal³⁰, R Kenneth Marcus³¹, Reinhard Noll³², John W Olesik³³, Vincenzo Palleschi¹⁷, Ulrich Panne^{18

34}, Jorge Pisonero³⁵, Steven J Ray³⁶, Martín Resano³⁷, Richard E Russo^{1

38}, Alexander Scheeline^{39

40}, Benjamin W Smith⁴, Ralph E Sturgeon⁴¹, José-Luis Todolí⁴², Elisabetta Tognoni⁴³, Frank Vanhaecke⁴⁴, Michael R Webb⁴⁵, James D Winefordner⁴, Lu Yang⁴¹, Jin Yu⁴⁶, Zhanxia Zhang⁴⁷

Affiliations

¹ Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
² Corresponding Authors: George C.-Y. Chan, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA. Email: gcchan@lbl.gov Gary Hieftje, Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, 800 E. Kirkwood Avenue, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, USA. Email: hieftje@iu.edu Nicoló Omenetto, Department of Chemistry, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA. Email: omenetto@chem.ufl.edu.
³ Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, 800 E. Kirkwood Avenue, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, USA.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA.
⁵ Department of Physics, Umeå University, 901 87 Umeå, Sweden.
⁶ Department of Analytical Process Monitoring, Swerim AB, Kista, Sweden.
⁷ Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Department of Chemistry, Laboratory for Trace Analysis and Plasma Spectrometry, Duesbergweg 10-14, 55128 Mainz, Germany.
⁸ Department of Chemistry, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
⁹ Research Group PLASMANT, Department of Chemistry, University of Antwerp, Belgium.
¹⁰ Institute for Spectroscopy, Russian Academy of Sciences, Troitsk, Moscow, Russia.
¹¹ Department of Chemistry, University of Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 6, 20146 Hamburg, Germany.
¹² Department of Chemistry, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong.
¹³ Department of Physical and Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Oviedo, 33006 Oviedo, Spain.
¹⁴ Department of Chemistry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA.
¹⁵ †Deceased.
¹⁶ Department of Chemistry, University of Bari, Via Orabona 4, 70126 Bari, Italy.
¹⁷ CNR, Institute of Chemistry of Organometallic Compounds, CNR Research Area, Via G. Moruzzi, 1, 56124 Pisa, Italy.
¹⁸ Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prufung (BAM), Richard-Willstatter-Strasse 11, 12489 Berlin, Germany.
¹⁹ Department of Chemistry and Biology, University of Siegen, Adolf-Reichwein-Strasse 2, 57076 Siegen, Germany.
²⁰ Scientific Consultancy, Spielberg 9, 47533 Kleve, Germany.
²¹ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Brigham Young University, C100 BNSN, Provo, Utah 84602, USA.
²² LTB Lasertechnik Berlin, Am Studio 2c, 12489 Berlin, Germany.
²³ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas 79409, USA.
²⁴ ETH Zurich, Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, Laboratory of Inorganic Chemistry, Vladimir-Prelog-Weg 1, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland.
²⁵ College of Engineering, University of Arizona, 1209 East 2nd Street, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA.
²⁶ Department of Chemistry and the MOE Key Lab of Spectrochemical Analysis and Instrumentation, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China.
²⁷ IFW Dresden e.V., Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden, POB 270116, 01171 Dresden, Germany.
²⁸ Spetec GmbH, Am Kletthamer Feld 15, 85435 Erding, Germany.
²⁹ Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada.
³⁰ EMSL, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 902 Battelle Boulevard, Richland, Washington 99354, USA.
³¹ Department of Chemistry, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina 29634, USA.
³² Fraunhofer-Institut fur Lasertechnik (ILT), Steinbachstrasse 15, 52074 Aachen, Germany.
³³ Trace Element Research Laboratory, School of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA.
³⁴ Department of Chemistry, Humboldt Universitat zu Berlin, Brook-Taylor-Strasse 2, 12489 Berlin, Germany.
³⁵ Department of Physics, University of Oviedo, c/ Federico Garcia Lorca, 18, Oviedo, Spain.
³⁶ Department of Chemistry, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York 14260, USA.
³⁷ University of Zaragoza, Aragon Institute of Engineering Research (I3A), Department of Analytical Chemistry, Pedro Cerbuna 12, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain.
³⁸ Applied Spectra, 950 Riverside Parkway, #90, West Sacramento, California 95605, USA.
³⁹ Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 S. Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA.
⁴⁰ Spectroclick Inc., 904 Mayfair Road, Champaign, Illinois 61821, USA.
⁴¹ National Research Council Canada, Metrology Research Centre, 1200 Montreal Road, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0R6, Canada.
⁴² Department of Analytical Chemistry, Nutrition and Food Science, University of Alicante, P.O. Box 99, Alicante, Spain.
⁴³ CNR, National Institute of Optics, CNR Research Area, Via G. Moruzzi, 1, 56124 Pisa, Italy.
⁴⁴ Department of Chemistry, Ghent University, Campus Sterre, Krijgslaan 281-S12, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
⁴⁵ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, North Carolina 28403, USA.
⁴⁶ School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
⁴⁷ School of Chemistry, Sun Yet-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China.

PMID: 38881037
PMCID: PMC12003936
DOI: 10.1177/00037028241263567

Landmark Publications in Analytical Atomic Spectrometry: Fundamentals and Instrumentation Development

George C-Y Chan et al. Appl Spectrosc. 2025 Apr.

. 2025 Apr;79(4):481-735.

doi: 10.1177/00037028241263567. Epub 2024 Jun 16.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
² Corresponding Authors: George C.-Y. Chan, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA. Email: gcchan@lbl.gov Gary Hieftje, Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, 800 E. Kirkwood Avenue, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, USA. Email: hieftje@iu.edu Nicoló Omenetto, Department of Chemistry, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA. Email: omenetto@chem.ufl.edu.
³ Department of Chemistry, Indiana University, 800 E. Kirkwood Avenue, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, USA.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA.
⁵ Department of Physics, Umeå University, 901 87 Umeå, Sweden.
⁶ Department of Analytical Process Monitoring, Swerim AB, Kista, Sweden.
⁷ Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Department of Chemistry, Laboratory for Trace Analysis and Plasma Spectrometry, Duesbergweg 10-14, 55128 Mainz, Germany.
⁸ Department of Chemistry, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
⁹ Research Group PLASMANT, Department of Chemistry, University of Antwerp, Belgium.
¹⁰ Institute for Spectroscopy, Russian Academy of Sciences, Troitsk, Moscow, Russia.
¹¹ Department of Chemistry, University of Hamburg, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 6, 20146 Hamburg, Germany.
¹² Department of Chemistry, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong.
¹³ Department of Physical and Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Chemistry, University of Oviedo, 33006 Oviedo, Spain.
¹⁴ Department of Chemistry, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA.
¹⁵ †Deceased.
¹⁶ Department of Chemistry, University of Bari, Via Orabona 4, 70126 Bari, Italy.
¹⁷ CNR, Institute of Chemistry of Organometallic Compounds, CNR Research Area, Via G. Moruzzi, 1, 56124 Pisa, Italy.
¹⁸ Bundesanstalt für Materialforschung und -prufung (BAM), Richard-Willstatter-Strasse 11, 12489 Berlin, Germany.
¹⁹ Department of Chemistry and Biology, University of Siegen, Adolf-Reichwein-Strasse 2, 57076 Siegen, Germany.
²⁰ Scientific Consultancy, Spielberg 9, 47533 Kleve, Germany.
²¹ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Brigham Young University, C100 BNSN, Provo, Utah 84602, USA.
²² LTB Lasertechnik Berlin, Am Studio 2c, 12489 Berlin, Germany.
²³ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas 79409, USA.
²⁴ ETH Zurich, Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, Laboratory of Inorganic Chemistry, Vladimir-Prelog-Weg 1, 8093 Zurich, Switzerland.
²⁵ College of Engineering, University of Arizona, 1209 East 2nd Street, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA.
²⁶ Department of Chemistry and the MOE Key Lab of Spectrochemical Analysis and Instrumentation, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China.
²⁷ IFW Dresden e.V., Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden, POB 270116, 01171 Dresden, Germany.
²⁸ Spetec GmbH, Am Kletthamer Feld 15, 85435 Erding, Germany.
²⁹ Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada.
³⁰ EMSL, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 902 Battelle Boulevard, Richland, Washington 99354, USA.
³¹ Department of Chemistry, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina 29634, USA.
³² Fraunhofer-Institut fur Lasertechnik (ILT), Steinbachstrasse 15, 52074 Aachen, Germany.
³³ Trace Element Research Laboratory, School of Earth Sciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210, USA.
³⁴ Department of Chemistry, Humboldt Universitat zu Berlin, Brook-Taylor-Strasse 2, 12489 Berlin, Germany.
³⁵ Department of Physics, University of Oviedo, c/ Federico Garcia Lorca, 18, Oviedo, Spain.
³⁶ Department of Chemistry, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, New York 14260, USA.
³⁷ University of Zaragoza, Aragon Institute of Engineering Research (I3A), Department of Analytical Chemistry, Pedro Cerbuna 12, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain.
³⁸ Applied Spectra, 950 Riverside Parkway, #90, West Sacramento, California 95605, USA.
³⁹ Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 600 S. Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA.
⁴⁰ Spectroclick Inc., 904 Mayfair Road, Champaign, Illinois 61821, USA.
⁴¹ National Research Council Canada, Metrology Research Centre, 1200 Montreal Road, Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0R6, Canada.
⁴² Department of Analytical Chemistry, Nutrition and Food Science, University of Alicante, P.O. Box 99, Alicante, Spain.
⁴³ CNR, National Institute of Optics, CNR Research Area, Via G. Moruzzi, 1, 56124 Pisa, Italy.
⁴⁴ Department of Chemistry, Ghent University, Campus Sterre, Krijgslaan 281-S12, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
⁴⁵ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Wilmington, North Carolina 28403, USA.
⁴⁶ School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
⁴⁷ School of Chemistry, Sun Yet-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China.

PMID: 38881037
PMCID: PMC12003936
DOI: 10.1177/00037028241263567

Abstract

The almost-two-centuries history of spectrochemical analysis has generated a body of literature so vast that it has become nearly intractable for experts, much less for those wishing to enter the field. Authoritative, focused reviews help to address this problem but become so granular that the overall directions of the field are lost. This broader perspective can be provided partially by general overviews but then the thinking, experimental details, theoretical underpinnings, and instrumental innovations of the original work must be sacrificed. In the present compilation, this dilemma is overcome by assembling the most impactful publications in the area of analytical atomic spectrometry. Each entry was proposed by at least one current expert in the field and supported by a narrative that justifies its inclusion. The entries were then assembled into a coherent sequence and returned to contributors for a round-robin review. A total of 48 scientists participated in this endeavor, contributing a combined list of 1055 individual articles spanning 17 sub-disciplines of spectrochemical analysis into what the current community views as "key" publications. Of these cited articles, 60 received nominations from four or more scientists, establishing them as the most indispensable reading materials. The outcome of this collaborative effort is intended to serve as a valuable resource not only for current practitioners in atomic spectroscopy but also for present and future students who represent coming generations of analytical atomic spectroscopists.

Keywords: Atomic spectroscopy, chemical education, data handling, elemental analysis, isotope ratio, laser spectroscopy, optical imaging, plasma, sample introduction, spectrochemical analysis, spectrophysics, spectroscopic instrumentation.

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Figures

**Graphical Abstract**
This is a visual representation of the abstract.

**Figure 1.**
Histogram of the publication years of all cited key articles.

**Figure 2.**
Histogram of the publication year of key articles that received nominations from four or more individual scientists. Overall, the general shape of the distribution resembles that of the *total* number of cited key papers (see Figure 1). However, this more focused distribution simplifies correlation with specific events (see text for details). The specific papers that make up this most-significant collection are listed in Table I. Interestingly, the only publication in this list before 1951 is the classic one in 1860 by Kirchhoff and Bunsen describing the successful use of flame-emission spectrometry for quantitative metal analysis.

**Figure 3.**
Histogram showing the percentage of nominated papers that were cited by four or more nominators. The data for this plot were the same as those used for Figure 2, but are recast as a percentage rather than an absolute number. This display reveals more clearly that truly landmark publications are widely recognized. In particular, the Kirchhoff–Bunsen paper before 1900 is recognized as establishing the foundations of analytical atomic spectrometry, while those from 1951 to 1970 reveal the ongoing impact of developments in atomic absorption, ICP, and the Grimm-type glow discharge.

**Figure 4.**
Histogram showing the distribution of the top 10 journals in which cited key papers were published. For journals that were merged with others or had a name change in their publication history, all are counted under a single name. In this case, the name with the highest count is displayed in the figure. For *Spectrochim. Acta*, *Part B*, its predecessors *Spectrochim. Acta* (with 12 counts), *Spectrochim. Acta*, *Part A* (split from *Spectrochim. Acta*, two counts), *Spectrochim. Acta Rev.* (two counts), and *Prog. Anal. At. Spectrosc.* (one count) are included. For *Anal. Chem*., its predecessor *Ind. Eng. Chem.*, *Anal. Ed.* (one count) is included. For *Fresenius’ J. Anal. Chem.*, its predecessor *Fresenius’ Zeitschrift für Analytische Chemie* (11 counts) and successor *Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry* (nine counts) are combined. Overall, 71.8% of all cited key papers were published in one of the four top journals.

**Figure 5.**
Pie chart showing the distribution of (a) all the cited key papers, and (b) papers that were cited by four or more nominators among the 17 topics covered in this compilation.

**Figure 6.**
Histogram of the publication years of key articles on (a) the top six most-cited spectrochemical analysis techniques (i.e., atomic fluorescence spectrometry, flame and furnace, glow discharge, ICP–AES, ICP–MS, and LIBS), and (b) generic topics related to spectrochemical analysis (i.e., sample introduction, general spectrometric techniques and instrumentation, and fundamental theory). The lines show the smoothed trend of the distributions by means of a basis-spline function.

**Figure 7.**
Spectrum of sunlight drawn and colored by Fraunhofer with dark lines named after him (reprinted with permission from Deutsches Museum Munich, Germany). The spectrum appears on the postal stamp issued in 1987 by Deutsche Bundespost to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Fraunhofer's birthday (reprinted with permission from Bundesministerium der Finanzen, Berlin, Germany, and the heirs of Professor Ernst Kößlinger, Munich, Germany, who designed the stamp. For copyright reasons, permission must be obtained to use the image. Please address all questions regarding the use of the postal stamp image to LB5@bmf.bund.de).

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

1. Barras R.C. (editor). Transcript of First International Conclave on Unsolved Problems in Spectrochemical Analysis. Ottawa, Canada; June 24–26, 1967. Transcript available from Othmer Library, Science History Institute.
1. Philbrick N.. “Introduction”. In: Lansing A.. Endurance: Shackleton's Incredible Voyage. New York, USA: Basic Books, 2014.
1. Smith I.W.M. (editor). 100 Years of Physical Chemistry. Cambridge, UK: The Royal Society of Chemistry, 2003. 10.1039/9781847550002 - DOI
1. Proskauer E.S., Fine L.S.. “Contemporary History of Chemistry: A Continuing Series of First-Hand Accounts of Landmark Developments in Chemistry during This Century”. J. Chem. Educ. 1979. 56: 214. 10.1021/ed056p214 - DOI
1. Beilby A.L. (editor). Modern Classics in Analytical Chemistry. Washington DC, USA: American Chemical Society, 1970.

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Landmark Publications in Analytical Atomic Spectrometry: Fundamentals and Instrumentation Development

Affiliations

Landmark Publications in Analytical Atomic Spectrometry: Fundamentals and Instrumentation Development

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Figures

References

LinkOut - more resources

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