G. skopein - to view
Spectroscopy is used to determine identity, quantity, structure, and the environment of atoms, molecules, and ions by analyzing the radiation emitted or absorbed by atoms, molecules, or ions.
Optical spectroscopy is concerned with transitions of valence electrons.
X-ray spectroscopy is concerned with the transition of inner-core electrons.
Nuclear magnetic spectroscopy is concerned with transitions involving the nucleus.
Mass spectrometry involves the separations of ions based on their mass.
Gen 1:3 "And God said 'Let there be light' "
Gen 9:13 "I set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign ..."
423 B.C. use of the lens by Aristophanes
400 BC Aristotle recognizes that light was necessary for color to exist
300 BC Euclid discussed the focus of a spherical mirror
40 A.D. Seneca observed the light scattering properties of prisms
50 AD Cleomedes discussed the refraction of light
100 Ptolemy studied incidence and refraction.
139 Claudius Ptolemy made detailed tables on the reflection and refraction of light
~1010 Althazen described the planar nature of reflection
1038 Alhazen studied reflection and refraction of light
1250 Roger Bacon determined the focal points of concave mirror
~1300 first recorded use of lenses for eyeglasses
1304 Theodoric of Freiberg explained the water-droplet origins of rainbows
~1500 Leonardo Da Vinci mentioned diffraction in his notebooks
1608 Hans Lippershey makes first telescope after two children playing in his shop put two lenses in front of each other
1609 Galileo produces telescope of power of 30x
1609 Zacarias Joannides made the first microscope. 1620 Willebrord Snell van Royen discovered the law of refraction
1637 Descartes derived the law of refraction theoretically
1663 Robert Boyle first observed interference rings, now known as Newton's rings.
1666 Newton observes spectrum obtained from a prism; publishes Principia
1678 Huygens proposed wave theory of light
1729 Pierre Bouger notices attenuation of light as it passes through successive thicknesses of glass
1733 Joseph Priestly, father of chemistry in America, born
1735 Torbern Bergman born, father of qual and quant inorganic analysis
1743 Antoine Lavoiser, father of modern chemistry born
1750 someone tells Ben Franklin to "go fly a kite"
1752 Thomas Melville writes of yellow light in flame when sea salt mixed with alcohol
1760 Johann Lambert gives mathematical formula to Bouger
1776 Alessandro Volta notes different colors when using different sparking materials
1786 J.B.J. Fourier born
1778 Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac born, father of organic analysis
1791 Michael Faraday born
1800 F.W. Herschel notes that different amounts of heat passed through different colored glasses
1800 Thomas Young demonstrates wave properties of light by diffraction
1801 J.W. Ritter discovers UV
1802 W.H. Wollaston observes dark lines in spectrum from prism (absorption)
1806 John Dalton proposes atomic theory. Daltonism explained.
1817 Josef Fraunhofer maps details of absorption lines in solar spectrum
1826 Balard discovered the photo-sensitivity of silver bromide
1826 W.H.F. Talbot notices different salts yield different colored flames
1838 W.A. Lampadius determines Fe and Ni in Co ores by comparing colors with standard solutions
1850 J.J. Foucault measures speed of light in water
1852 August Beer shows logarithmic relation of Lambert
1852 G.G. Stokes used complementary filters to prove absorption at 1 and emission at 2 (nonresonance luminescence)
1852 E. Bequerel and J.W. Draper photograph solar spectrum
1852 Charles Wheatstone makes drawing of spark spectrum
1853 A. Muller & J. Duboscq use comparator for matching colors by adjusting solution thicknesses
1859 G. Kirchoff and R.W. Bunsen are the first to say that elements have both characteristic absorption and emission spectra
1859 A.J. Angstrom measures ls in a flame and solar spectrum and compares the two
1864 Walther Nernst born, father of electroanalytical chemistry
1864 James Clark Maxwell presented the electromagnetic theory of light
1868 J.N. Lockyer discovers Helium in solar spectrum and in 1873 describes "long" and "short" lines, the first quant work in spectroscopy
1873 Maxwell presented his "Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism"
1877 Gouy invented the first pneumatic nebuliser for introducing liquids into flames
1881 George Stoney proposes that electricity is carried by particles
1882 H.A. Rowland shows that large concave reflection grating can be used for focusing & dispersing
1885 J.J. Balmer develops empirical relationship for Hydrogen spectrum
1886 Eugene Goldstein observes "canal" rays
1887 Heinrich Hertz is first to observe photoelectric effect
1889 H. Ebert develops plane grating optical arrangement
1891 - Gabriel Lippmann made the first colour photographic plate
1891 A.A. Michelson invents interferometer (1907 Nobel Prize in Physics)
1893 V Schumann studied the "vacuum" ultraviolet
1895 W.C. Roentgen discovers x-rays
1896 Zeeman sees splitting of lines in magnetic field
1897 John J. Thompson measures m/e of electron
1900 A. Konig and F.F. Matens develop visible spectrometer
1900 Max Planck proposes quantum theory
1900 William Coblentz takes IR spectra of organics
1902 H.A. Lorentz and P. Zeeman Nobel Prize for discovery of the splitting of spectral lines in magnetic
1903 Mikhial Tswett separates plant pigments with adsorption chromatography
1905 Albert Einstein explains photoelectric effect [A. Einstein, Physikalische Zeitschrift 18, 121 (191]7)
1909 Robert Millikan determines charge on electron using oil drop experiment
1909 Roberts, Pollack, and Leonard do photographic quant work
1911 E. Rutherford, H. Geiger, and E. Marsden discover nucleus of the atom
1913 Neils Bohr proposes "solar system" model ofthe atom
1916 Millikan's systematic studies confirm Einstein's theory on photoelectric effect
1918 Max Plank Nobel Prize in Physics
1919 J. Stark discovery of the splitting of spectral lines in electric fields
1920 W.F. Meggers and P.D. Foote invent microphotometer
1922 N. Bohr, Nobel Prize in Physics, for being the first to link the regularities of spectral lines to the quantum structure of atoms
1923 A. Smekal publishes theoretical foundation of Raman spectroscopy
1924 Pauli postulates nuclear magnetic moments
1926 W. Heisenberg and E. Schrodinger develop wave mechanics
1928 C.V. Raman sees nonresonant scattering (Nobel Physics Prize in 1930)
1929 Lundegardh is first to do quant work with flame photometer
1932 James Chadwick discovers the neutron
1933 C.E. Gleeton and N.H. Williams perform first microwave absorption experiments
1933 Nobel Prize in Physics to P.A.M. Dirac and E. Schrodinger for their contributions to the quantum theory of atoms
1935 Zablonski publishes energy level diagram for molecular luminescence
1938 H.M. Randall and F.A. Firestone use far IR for rotation spectroscopy
1940 Beckman Company begins marketing DU Quartz Spectrophotometer
1942 A.J.P. Martin and R.L.M. Synge develop liquid-liquid chromatography
1944 G.N. Lewis and M. Kasha introduce 5:5:2 EPA for use in phosphorimetry
1945 Felix Block and E.M. Purcell see emission and absorption, respectively, when observing nuclear magnetic resonance
1945 Nobel Prize in Physics to W. Pauli for discovering the quantum exclusion principle
1949 W.D. Knight observes NMR chemical shifts
1949 Peter Fellgett performs Fourier transform of an interferrogram
1949 John White and Max Listen develop double beam optical null IR spectrometer
1951 H.V. Malmstadt begins career at University of Illinois
1951 - E M Purcell and R V Pound first observed net induced emission
1952 A.J. James and A.J.P. Martin develop gas chromatography
1954 Nobel Prize in Chemistyr to Linus Pauling for his research into the nature of the chemical bond
1955 Alan Walsh develops atomic absorption spectroscopy
1955 W.C. Wiley and I.H. McLaren develop time-of-flight mass spectrometer
1955 W. Paul and M. Rather develop quadrupole mass spectrometer
1955 W.E. Lamb, Jr. (Nobel Prize in Physics) for discovering the fine structure splitting in the first excited state of atomic hydrogen
1958 C. Townes(1964 Nobel Prize in Physics), A.L. Schalow (Nobel Physics Prize 1981), and T.H. Maiman develop laser
1959 Digital Equipment Corp. introduces PDP-1
1959 E.R. Ratmond & I.J. Lowe recognize significance of "magic angle" spinning for solid state NMR
1961 B.V. L'vov develops carbon rod furnace
1962 F.J. McClung and R.W. Hellwarth develop pulsed laser
1963 C. Th. J. Alkemade shows that fluorescence of metals can be stimulated in a flame
1964 J.D. Winefordner and T.J. Vickers develop atomic fluorescence spectroscopy
1964 Stanley Greenfield performs first ICP-AES
1964 V.A. Fassel and P.W.J.M. Boumans help with early refinements of ICP
1964 McCormack, Tong, and Cooke develop microwave plasma detector for gas chromatography
1964 A. Savitsky and M.C.E. Golay introduce numerical smoothing
1965 J.B. Willis introduces nitrous oxide-acetylene flame
1965 S. Greenfield invented 'high-power' ICP
1965 S.R. Koirtyohann & E.E. Pickett describe use of hydrogen continuum for background correction
1966 P.P. Sorokin and J.R. Lankard develop dye laser
1966 A. Kastler, Nobel Prize in Physics for for the development of optical pumping of atoms
1966 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to R.S. Mulliken for his contribution to molecular spectroscopy concerning the understanding of chemical bonds and the electronic structure of molecules by the molecular orbital theory
1967 W. Grimm invented his glow discharge source
1968 T. Kuwana develops first spectroelectrochemical apparatus
1968 Massman develops simpler furnace for AA
1968 W. Snelleman introduces wavelength modulation background correction
1968 R. Mavrodineau and R.C. Hughes publish several optical systems for multielement AA
1969 W. Holak describes arsine generation analysis
1969 V.A. Fassel and P.W.J.M. Boumans developed "low-power" ICP
1971 Intel Corp. introduces MCS-4 microprocessor
1971 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to G. Herzberg for his contribution to molecular spectroscopy and the understanding of electronic structure and geometry of molecules, particularly free radicals
1972 Gary Horlick paper on use of Fourier transforms in spectroscopy using digital data handling of spectra
1973 Charlotte E. Moore published extensive tables of atomic energy levels
1975 A.L. Gray develops ICP-MS
1975 J. Ruzicka and E.H. Hansen develop flow injection analysis
1976 C.I.M. Beenakker develops TM010 cavity for microwave plasmas
1976 J. Schaefer & E.O. Stejskal perform key experiments making high resolution solid state NMR feasible
1977 J.P. Walters publishes detailed study of HV spark
1977 O'Haver, Harnly, and Zander develop 16 channel multielement AA
1978 M.P. Fuller and P.J. Griffiths develop diffuse reflectance FTIR
1979 C.G. Enke and R.A. Yost develop triple quadrupole for MS-MS
1981 W. Slavin, D.C. Manning, and G.R. Carnick develop Stabilized Temperature Platform Furnace
1981 N. Bloembergen, Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to nonlinear optics
1983 S.B. Smith & G.M. Hieftje introduce pulsed hollow cathode background correction method for AA
1989 H.G. Dehmelt and W. Paul, Nobel Prize in Physics for invention of the ion trap
1991 Nobel Prize in Chemisty to R.R. Ernst for the development of high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy
1999 A. Zewail (Nobel Prize in Physics) for studies of the transition states of chemical reactions using femtosecond spectroscopy