Analytical Chemistry July 1955 [antikvár]

ANALYTICAI CHEMISTRY WALTER J. MURPHY, Editor The Lisbon Analytical Congress Wc that an international analytical congress will be held in Lisbon, Portugal, in September of next year, under the auspices of the Analytical Section of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. We congratulate our Portuguese associates and pledge them and the lUPAC analytical section our active support in order to help make the 1956 gathering in Lisbon an outstanding success in every way, comparable to the memorable Oxford meeting of a few years ago. The staging of another international analytical congress demonstrates the full vigor of the Analytical Section of lUPAC, and American analytical chemists can be very proud of the leadership given it by L M. Kolthoff as president, and S. E. Q. Ashley as secretary. Both have traveled to Europe extensively on lUPAC matters in recent months. Their intense interest in developing a closer relationship scientifically and personally with the analysts of other countries constitutes a splendid example for all of us to follow. It is upon such a firm basis that international good will and understanding are built. The Division of Chemistry and Chemical Technology of the National Research Council (not the American Chemical Society) is the U. S. official connection with lUPAC. The division, under the chairmanship of WiUiam J. Sparks, has endorsed most enthusiastically the Lisbon analytical congress and is maintaining close liaison with the officers of the section and with Professor D. Antonio Pereira Forjaz, president of the organizing committee. Physical arrangements for the congress are being handled by Professor Pierre Laurent of the Instituto Superior Técnico, Lisbon. The fact that lUPAC is staging a biennial meeting in Zurich in July of this year will mean that many analytical chemists will be there to help in planning for the Lisbon analytical congress in 1956. It is the general feeling of the officers of the lUPAC Analytical Section and the Division of Chemistry and Chemical Technology of the National Research Council, that papers offered for presentation at the Lisbon meeting by American analysts should be screened by a board of referees appointed by the Division of Chemistry and Chemical "Technology. We believe this to be a very practical, a very excellent idea. Analytical Chemistry would seem to be the logical choice for the ultimate pubhcation of papers presented by Americans at the Lisbon congress. The editors will feel highly honored if this invitation is accepted. All authors should be aware that manuscripts offered for publication in the journal, regardless of the place or occasion of presentation, are subjected to our usual rigorous reviewing. The editors will, however, if this journal is selected as the medium for publication of the papers presented by Americans, pubUsh them together in a single issue and with appropriate special editorial treatment. More specific and detailed information on the Lisbon analytical congress will appear in subsequent issues of this journal and in Chemical and Engineering News. In writing about the congress we are reminded of the fact that analysts are in for a very busy year in 1956. Running through the list very hurriedly, we can think of the Pittsburgh Analytical Conference, the Louisiana State University Symposium, the spring and fall national meetings of the ACS, the analytical session of the Gordon Research Conferences, and in 1956 a very special Summer Analytical Symposium—the annual event cosponsored by the Division of Analj'tical Chemistry and Analytical Chemistry. For the first time in the history of the summer analytical symposia, one will be held in the Far West— on the campus of the University of California at Los Angeles. Extended to a three-day meeting, there will! be three sections: (A) Rapid Methods of .Analysis,. (B) Analysis of Industrial Wastes, and (C) Analytical! Problems Encountered in Biological Systems. More about this special affair later. The year 1956 will be a particularly strenuous one, but we look upon this increased activity simply as an indication of the ever-increasing importance of the broad field of analysis. A decade or so ago no one supposedly in his right mind would have pictured the analysts as the modern gypsies of the 20th century or, perhaps, we should have said the modern Gullivers. It is a lot of fun, of course, but of more serious importance it means that our special field of endeavor is progressing scientifically at a phenomenal rate of speed and meetings are essential for the fast and accurate dissemination of new knowledge upon which new industries are being built and old ones rejuvenated. 1039