The M. S. Tswett Chromatography Medal

On the occasion of the Tenth International Symposium on the Advances in Chromatography held in Munich, November 3 -6 , 1975, the M.S. Tswett Chromatography Medal was awarded to G. Hesse, E.C. Homing, J. Jan~k, J.E. Lovelock and C.S.G. Phillips, recognizing their pioneer achievements in chromatography. This is the second time that the Tswett Chromatography Medal was awarded. The medal was established last year and first awarded at the Ninth Symposium on the Advances in Chromatography held in Houston, Texas, in November 1974.

G. Hesse is professor at the University of Erlangen/Niirn- berg, in the German Federal Republic, and head of the Institute of Organic Chemistry at the university. He is one of the pioneers of chromatography particularly of gas adsorption chromatography. His activities in chromato- graphy started in the nineteenthirties in Munich, at Professor Wieland's Institute and continued at the University of Marburg/Lahn. At Marburg, he developed a new technique where the chromatographic principles were applied to a system using a gas as the mobile phase; this work can be considered as the beginning of modem gas adsorption chromatography.

supports and opened an entirely new field for gas chromato- graphy: the analysis of steroids and other biologically important compounds. These activities were continued in Houston; in effect, Dr. Homing and his school can be credited in making GC one of the most important tools in biological analysis. In recent years, he further extended the usefulness of chromatography in this field by introducing combined multiinstrument techniques.

E.C. Homing is professor at Baylor College of Medicine, in Houston, Texas (U.S.A.) and head of the Institute of Lipid Research at Baylor. Between 1950 and 1961 he has served at the National Heart Institute within the National Institutes of Health complex, in Bethesda, Md., as head of the Laboratory of Chemistry of Natural Products. In this period, Dr. Homing and his associates introduced packed columns with very low loading utilizing silanized

J. Jan~k is director of the Institute of Analytical Chemistry of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, in Brno. His activities in gas chromatography started around 1950 while working at the Westbohemian Chemical Works, in Most, and at the Institute for Petroleum Research, in Brno. There, he developed a system employing gas adsorption chromatography which was suitable for quantitative analysis. His activities in the early 1950s significantly contributed to the acceptance of gas chroma- tography as a routine analytical tool. He continued his

Chromato~'aphia, Vol. 8, No. 11, November 1975 603

activities after 1956 at the newly formed Laboratory for Gas Analysis which he then developed into the present institute, one of the leading European laboratories in this field.

J.E. Lovelock is a free lance scientist serving as a consultant to various companies and institutions. His involvement in gas chromatography dates back to his days at the National Institute for Medical Research, in London, England, where he developed the argon ioniz- ation detector which proved to be the origin of a family of detectors. The most important member of this family was the electron capture detector which revolutionized environmental analysis. Dr. Lovelock has also been active in a number of other fields, with many important con- tributions from which his cooperation in the space pro- gram was honored by N.A.S.A. with a certificate of recognition "for the creative development of a scientific contribution which has been determined to be of signal value in the advancement of the aerospace technology program". In 1974, Dr. Lovelock was elected a fellow of the Royal Society.

C.S.G. Phillips has spent his whole academic career at Merton College and Oxford University, in England. The citation of his award emphasizes his continuous contri- butions in gas chromatography during the last quarter century, both as a researcher and a teacher. His invol- vement in gas chromatography began in 1946 when, following the classic studies of Claesson, in Sweden, he further developed the various adsorption techniques. He was one of the first who realized the importance of the work of James and Martin in gas-liquid partition chroma- tography. Since then, he has been involved in many aspects of the technique such as the study of inorganic volatiles and the investigation of heterogenous catalysis using GC. Dr. Phillips is one of the founder members of the (Gas) Chromatography Discussion Group serving twice as its chairman and he is the author of the first book on gas chromatography published in 1956.

The editors and publishers of Chromatographia join the participants of the Munich Symposium in congratulating the recipients of the Tswett Medal. Their achievements and personal involvement in the advancement of the technique serve as guidelines to present and future chromatographers.

Leslie S. Ettre

604 Chromatographia, Vol. 8, No. 11, November 1975