Fresenius J Anal Chem (1994) 350:413-414 Fresenius' Journal of

© Springer-Verlag 1994

Editorial

Professor Dr. Dieter Klockow on his 60th birthday

This Special Issue is dedicated to our revered teacher, col- league and friend, Dieter Klockow, on his 60th birthday. I am very pleased and honoured to have been asked to write this outline of his scientific career and appreciation of his scientific achievements to date.

Born on the 16 November 1934, brought up in Pom- mern and, under difficult circumstances at the end of the Second World War, you arrived, by way of Sachsen, in Freiburg im Breisgan. This soon became your second home and you quickly became a true Badener.

In Freiburg you attended the Grammar School, began to study Chemistry after your 'Abitur' and met and mar- ried your dear wife Barbara.

I was unable to find out what led you to focus your interest on Analytical Chemistry; however, in retrospect, we can see that you had already made the right decision when you worked for your Masters Degree and Doctorate with Professor Herbert Weisz. In this way you learnt the basics of the Austrian School of classical microanalysis. The Weisz Ring Furnace was raised to a new level of im- portance when you first used it for the separation of ra- dio nucleides.

After your Doctorate, you quickly began to make your own scientific way forward. Dr. ROnicke, head of the DFG measurement station for air quality monitoring (Schauinsland), suggested many problems had still to be solved for the characterisation of the air, our most vital element of life. The initial negative effects of human pol- lution were just beginning to be reported. You quickly recognised and publicised the need for an efficient system of atmospheric analysis to guarantee our safety and well being. Thus our most important German air quality spe- cialist was born.

You have published many papers since your 'Habilita- tion' in 1970. These began with the measurement of strong acids in the atmosphere. Your catalytic methods for the measurement of fluoride in air were superior to the conventional methods in ease of detection. When you began to lecture about your work (e.g. in Jekyll Island, Georgia, USA) you quickly became well known abroad. You also received the Young Scientist Award from the

Fachgruppe Analytische Chemie of the GDCh (Analyti- cal Division of the German Chemical Society).

At this time we got to know each other and others, such as Roland W. Frei and Werner Haerdi, became firm friends.

With your critical analytical vision, you identified the largest source of error in the taking of air samples and re- ported this in Vienna in 1976. You were immediately vot- ed onto the Executive Committee of the International As- sociation of Environmental Analytical Chemistry, where your ready, constructive criticisms and the precise formu- lation of your comments have successfully contributed to the unity of the group.

Your success also prepared the way for a career as University Professor and teacher. While still a university lecturer in Freiburg, you recruited your first students. One of the first was Reinhard Nief3ner, today a well known Professor at the TU in Munich. To him we owe many thanks for the initial planning of this volume.

In 1976 you received the call to a Chair in Analytical Chemistry at the University of Dortmund. There you built up an impressive department and won many stu- dents for analytical chemistry. You remained true to your Atmospheric Chemistry and, with your many colleagues, made essential advances in the analysis of air samples. One scientific milestone was the successful application of your own ideas for the use of diffusive samplers. However your contributions to the measurement of hydrogen per- oxide and other components in the atmosphere, methods for the measurement of metal species in aerosols and the optimisation of analytical equipment have all been ex- tremely enriching for the analysis of the atmosphere.

During this period, you also organised in Dortmund with great success the 10th Annual Symposium on the Analytical Chemistry of Pollutants.

Close to your heart has always been the advancement of analysis and the training of analysts in the Third World, initially in E1 Salvador and more recently in Brasil. You became a Visiting Professor in Brasil in 1981 and began an intensive cooperation with Tania Tavares and other South American colleagues which has led to-

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day to the carrying out of many joint projects and courses in Sao Paulo and Salvador-Bahia.

A new phase in your scientific career began in 1988 when you became Director of the Institut far Spektro- chemie und Angewandte Spektroskopie (ISAS) in Dort- mund and a C4 Professor in the University of Dortmund. With an even larger circle of coworkers and improved in- strumental facilities, you intensified your research in the areas of trace analysis and multiphase atmospheric chem- istry, the reduction of air pollution and the development of more efficient methods for its inspection and control.

Several highlights can be given as examples of your current activities: further improvement of the techniques of sampling for particles and gaseous air components at very low levels; more efficient trace and microanalytical measurement methods for inorganic and organic air pol- lutants; the investigation of catalytic effects in and on ice crystals and the reactions of ozone with terpenes; the de- velopment of miniaturised spectroscopic methods (e.g. for ion mobility spectroscopy and surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy). A large programme of field mea- surements is also being carried out in Sauerland.

In addition to this versatile research programme and the leadership functions involved in running ISAS, you also lecture, referee papers, organise conferences and take part in the organisation of various national and interna- tional committees. Finally you have your hobby - Brasil.

So far your scientific work is in over 120 publications and you have given more than 200 lectures.

When your partner and colleague Gt~nther TOlg re- tires at the end of this year, the running of ISAS will fall on your shoulders so that you will have to concentrate your energy even more and to balance this, your jogging will need to be even more intensive. However you need to take no other medicine than that already prescribed - Badischer Wine.

We are certain that your charming wife Barbara, your three children and your grandchildren will take adequate care of you; for this reason we include your dear wife in our appreciation of you.

All those who have contributed papers to this Special Issue - many of your former and present students, your coworkers and colleagues - wish you Good Health and much Success over the next decade and take this opportu- nity to thank you for all that you have done for Analyti- cal Chemistry.

Ernest Merian, Therwil, Switzerland

Note from the Editorial Office

This issue contains all the papers which were ready for publication by the end of September, the deadline for printing. The remaining papers will be published in the first issue in 1995.