Editorial

Sixtieth Birthday of Leslie Ettre

Three score years ago, on September 16th, Dr. Leslie S. Ettre the noted chromatographer and one of the editors of Chromatographia was born. He was educated in Hunga- ry, graduated in chemical engineering from the Technical University of Budapest in 1945 and later received a doctors degree from the same institute. After graduation he was active in the Hungarian chemical industry both in research and management, and in addition, conducted academic teaching. In 1956 he moved to the Federal Republic of Germany and was a chemist at Lurgi in Frankfurt/Main. Two years later he emigrated to the United States and joined Perkin-Elmer in Norwalk, where he served as product specialist and chief application chemist. After 1968 he was executive editor of the Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemical Analysis published by Wiley. In 1972 he returned to Perldn- Elmer as a senior staff scientist, his present position. During the academic year 1977/78 he was research affiliate in the Department of Engineering and Applied Science at Yale, and an adjunct professor in the College of Natural Science and Mathematics at the University of Houston in 1978/79. He has been an invited speaker at numerous international scientific gatherings, at universities, scientific academies and professional societies. He has also taught many advan- ced courses on chromatography.

Dr. Ettre has participated in the organization of several national and international scientific conferences and chaired various symposia at national meetings such as those of the American Chemical Society and the Pittsburgh Conference. He is a member of the Organization Committee of the an- nual International Symposium on Advances in Chromato- graphy, and of the International Symposium on Liquid Column Chromatography to be held in New York City in May 1984. Besides being one of the regional editors of Chromatographia he also serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of Chromatographic Science. He is member of numerous professional societies, an associate member of the Commission on Analytical Nomenclature of the IUPAC, a foreign member of the Executive Committee of the Chromatography Discussion Group and is the secre- tary of Connecticut Chromatography Council. When Dr. Ettre started research in chromatography twenty- five years ago, gas chromatography had just been recognized as a powerful analytical tool of wide ranging potential. Since then the over 100 scientific and technical papers as well as the numerous books authored, coauthored and edited by him e.g. The Practice of Gas Chromatography and Ancil- lary Techniques of Gas Chromatography have made signi- ficant contributions to exploiting that potential. Perhaps best known is his work on the various aspects of capillary gas chromatography including theory, column technology and sample introduction. His book Open Tubular Columns in Gas Chromatography was the first monograph on the subject and greatly contributed, together with his numerous papers, to the wide use of various types of capillary columns. His concomitant research on quantitative measurements with the flame ionization detector and on the use of selec- tive detectors in both gas and liquid chromatography has significantly advanced trace organic analysis. His extensive writing on the Kov~its retention index has played an impor- tant role in making this system the most widely used ap- proach to the organization of retention data and to the characterization of stationary phases in gas chromatography. In related areas Dr. Ettre carried out major investigations in both reaction gas chromatography and pyrolysis gas chroma- tography. His investigations of catalysts and catalytic reac- tions with an integral microreaetor-gas chromatograph are particularly noteworthy. Similarly, the results of his fun- damontal studies have facilitated the use of dynamic methods for the measurement of the surface area of solids. Recently his attention has turned to HPLC and his scientific interest encompasses rapid separations and advanced instru- mentation. In addition he has written a highly successful introductory text on the subject.

Chromatographia Vol. 15 No. 9, September 1982 541

Editor ia l (cont'd)

As a noted scientist in an industrial setting, and for almost ten years the head of the gas chromatography application group at Perkin-Elmer Dr. Ettre has played a unique and highly successful role in the development of chromato- graphy at the interface between instrument manufacture, fundamental studies and practical use of the technique. Yet, he has always found time to pursue his interest in also being a historian of chromatography. He has been very prolific in this endeavour and provides a detailed picture of the evolution of the various techniques in the context of time and status of science. In addition to his analyses of the history of both liquid and gas chromatography he also has written, befittingly so, a major publication on the evolution of American instrument companies and their role in the de- velopment of gas chromatography.

The contributions of Dr. Ettre to chromatography have been recognized by the International M.S. Tswett Chrom- atography Award and the Chromatography Memorial Medal from the Academy of Sciences of the U. S. S.R., both in 1978, as well as by the L.S. Palmer Award of the Minnesota Chromatography Forum, in 1980. Simultaneously with the publication of this issue, Dr. Ettre will receive during the International Silver Jubilee Symposium on Chromatography, in London, the A.J.P. Martin Award of the Chromatography Discussion Group. As a birthday present to Dr. Ettre the papers in this special issue of Chromatographia have been dedicated to him. To- gether with his many friends the authors of these papers, the other editors and the publisher of this journal wish Dr. Ettre a happy birthday and continuing success.

Guest editors

Wayne R. Melander Csaba Horvfith

542 Chromatographia Vol. 15 No. 9, September 1982