Written by I.G. Ross

• Early years
• The student
• The manufacturing chemist
• The end of DDT
• Hardman at Seven Hills
• Science press
• The author
• The farmer
• Bioclone Australia Pty Ltd
• Planner and manager
• Business philosophy: The Newcastle address
• The public persona
• Family man
• Travelling and the cultivation of friendships
• The philanthropist
• The Boden chair of human nutrition
• The Boden Conferences
• Recognition
• Envoi
• About this memoir
  • Acknowledgments
  • Notes

Alex Boden was a manufacturing chemist who succeeded in that most difficult of industries; through his texts, he was an exceptionally successful educational author; and he was a publisher who relished editing, a man of some privacy and reticence who made deep and continuing friendships across the world, a singularly devoted husband, parent and grandparent, and a philanthropist in an age when philanthropy had almost dropped out of sight. His life was one of remarkable richness, variety, originality and generosity. It is unlikely that there has been another Australian of his kind.

His election to the Australian Academy of Science was on the nomination of Professor John Swan, who has recalled:

Alex Boden was a man of remarkable talents, pconcealed by a modest, even humble, exterior. I never saw him angry. He was greatly admired as a man who had achieved much in life but whose ambition was to contribute to family, social and community welfare, to give rather than take, to be supportive of others, and above all to foster the advancement of science.

One can wonder of how many, not professionally engaged in scientific research, it could be said that the voluntary side of their life was 'Above all, to foster the advancement of science'. Or that, as was the case, that they enjoyed no social contacts more than the company of scientists.

In writing this memoir I have depended on much help from Alex's family and former business associates, but I have also relied at times on my own recollections. We first met in 1942 in a manner so typical of Alex's style that it should strike a suitable note for appreciation of the longer narrative.

I was in Dymock's bookshop in Sydney looking at an enticing shelf of chemistry texts. There was a young, suited man beside me, and he asked me - I was in school uniform - what books I used at school. Idrew down two favourite English texts. He said: 'What about this one?' and he picked out Boden's Handbook of Chemistry. 'Oh', I said, 'it's our set text but it's no good'. 'Oh, I'm sorry,' he said. 'I wrote it'. The next day I sent him a letter detailing my reasons for that embarrassing verdict. They were actually only nitpicking ones. In response Alex bravely offered me my first job, at £2 a week, to work through the vacation at the Hardman Research Laboratory on revisions of the Handbook for the next edition. I accepted.

Early years

Alexander Boden was born on 28 May 1913, shortly after William and Helena Boden arrived in Australia from Northern Ireland. They established a drapery business in the main shopping centre of the Sydney suburb of Chatswood. He was the only son; there were two sisters.

His father, William Boden, was born in Ballinasloe on the border of counties Galway and Roscommon, but went in his youth to join his uncle in the latter's evidently prosperous drapery story in Magherafelt, Co. Derry. A surviving photograph of the staff of the store is impressive: some fifty men and women in starched collars and prim blouses stand in well-ordered ranks. The move to Australia in 1913 followed the emigration of two brothers and a sister. His mother, formerly Helena Isabella Hutchinson, a schoolteacher, came from Knockboy, near Broughshane, Co. Antrim, of a family of schoolteachers and clerics.

Alex Boden's education was at Willoughby Public School and North Sydney Boys High School. His father's premises were owned by the pharmacists Washington H. Soul, Pattinson and Co. and one day, while the young Alex was still at school, his father asked his landlord what was the best career for a boy. 'Buyin' and sellin'' was DrPattinson's counsel. In a greatly expanded sense it could be said that Alex Boden followed this advice.

The student

In 1929 Alex passed the Leaving Certificate with honours in Mathematics and Chemistry. An exhibition took him to the University of Sydney, where he enrolled in science to which he, like many before and after him, had been drawn by school chemical experiments:

I can trace my interest in chemistry to my first chemical experiment in school, changing the colour of litmus paper. I took some paper home and spent an exciting afternoon changing it from pink to blue with vinegar and washing soda. This was something I could do without instruction or interference from others. ^[1]

The last sentence is revealing: self-reliance was to be the hallmark of his life.

He made ample time for extracurricular activity, and set a possible record in ecumenism through his simultaneous membership of the Student Christian Movement (he had been a Sunday school teacher at Willoughby Presbyterian church), of Professor John Anderson's notoriously subversive Freethought Society, and the Sydney University Regiment (Corporal 1931). He became a highly-qualified Boy Scout leader. He spoke at the Sydney University Union's parliamentary-style Union Night debates, and engaged in hockey and wrestling.

Notable survivals of that time are notebooks in which Alex recorded in carefully marshalled tables the books he had read and his opinions of them. Thus in his first university year he records reading, wholly or in part, about a hundred books. Representative entries from that year include Better Ballroom Dancing by Scott (75% read) with a note 'Correction of mistakes etc.'; Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves (all read) 'Good realistic. No censoring of language'; Handbook of Photography by Sinclair (most read) 'Pretty good but a bit old-fashioned'; Religion and Science, by Draper (all read) 'V. readable'; English Regal Copper Coins, by Bamah (most read); 'Coins 1672­1860. No pics. may be good for reference'; La Vie des Abeilles by Maeterlinck (2/3 read) 'V.g. Hard French. Interesting and novel'; Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engels (all read) 'Quite fair. Rather old but still interesting'. This remarkable reading programme continued, with unabated assiduity and eclecticism, right through to the end of his fourth year - 400 titles, all similarly noted.

He graduated with honours in the bleak year of 1933. While this account must shortly take up his business career, it will be convenient here to carry on with one of his subsequent extra-professional interests - the theatre. He joined The Playmakers and in 1934 made his debut in Crime Made Legal. Advance publicity noted that 'Alex Boden is a newcomer to the Society and is making his first appearance in the important part of Inspector Burke. His fine speaking voice and confident bearing are sure to find favour.' It must be assumed that they did, for he made at least a dozen subsequent appearances, mostly with Sydney's oldest repertory company, The Sydney Players. His notices were generally flattering, as in A Midsummer Night's Dream: 'As Theseus, Alex Boden was easily the most competent of last night's performers. He alone gave real dignity to his lines.'

After 1936, however, the store of programmes and press clippings stops. Life had acquired other dimensions. He wrote in his notebook:

Aged twenty four and watching now the last grains of 1937 run through our fingers. A book [his Handbook of Chemistry] was born in January. Perhaps it will be worthy of rebirth. Almost a beginning on another. Finances are dull but they have been smoothed sufficiently to give a little takeoff for 1938. Sentiments not entirely controlled and showing no practical advance.

1937 was the year of a blundering young chemist in ignorant virtuous lazy search for better things (what better things?). The need is for better blending of gravitas and j[oie] de v[ivre]. The morning is ripening rapidly.

The manufacturing chemist

Boden's business career took two paths that need to be traced separately. One, his career in science and chemical manufacture, follows naturally at this point. Later, there will be an account of his parallel career as publisher and author.

His first job (1934) was a nine-month temporary appointment as an assistant biochemist at Royal North Shore Hospital. This was the only time he worked for a salary. While searching for a next job at the depths of the depression, his eyes were clearly on the commercial world. On 28 June 1935 there was registered the Pastoral Products Company for 'the manufacture and sale of chemical products etc.', proprietors Alexander Boden (then just 22) and Douglas J. Bush. Of this venture nothing has been found but a letterhead with a mid-city address describing the company as 'manufacturers and distributors of accessories for the man on the land'.

He did however make another more durable move the same year through an advertisement for a position with a Hardman Research Laboratory, at 103­5 Bourke Road, Waterloo. The owner, name unknown, was 'an oldish bachelor' who wanted to build a business for a protégé, Kethel Hardman. Dr Len Atkins, a life-long friend, remembers Hardman as a youngish man, not a technologist, who had set up a business based on contract analytical work supplemented by the recycling of 35 mm movie film, recovering nitrocellulose and silver. The business lacked a chemical director. Alex wrote: 'I knew so little that I thought I knew everything and fitted in immediately'. The Waterloo premises included a modest laboratory. Alex expanded the recycling business to the reprocessing of X-ray plates, the recovery of silver from spent fixing fluids from photographic processors, and of lead from toothpaste tubes.

The arrangement with Hardman was presumably, since it was not salaried, of a commission or profit-sharing kind. In any event, it was unharmonious and short-lived and Hardman left. There was then a fire in the celluloid film plant which the owner had insured well. He told Alex that once he had the insurance money, Alex could have the business. Thus Alex, by then a Registered Analyst, acquired the Hardman business and chose to retain the name. He moved to a laboratory situated above a furrier's overlooking Hyde Park. The analytical services were transferred to premises in Crown Street, Surry Hills, under the name of Sydney Testing Laboratories Pty Ltd. Alex began to buy, repackage and sell chemicals. His products included 'Lotus Bloom' face powder, price 6d, advertised, with a portrait, by Woolworths in the Sydney Sun, 25 May 1939:

Chemist triumphs. For months and months Mr A. Boden B.Sc., skilled analyst, has been testing and comparing expensive world famous powders ... Read these amazing facts: 27 Actual tests were necessary before Lotus Bloom was perfected ...

Shortly after graduation Alex had been in friendly association with another chemist, who had found employment with a shoe factory and was formulating shoe finishes: dyes, waxes, latexes, adhesives. Having thus learnt about these arcane matters, Alex in 1939 suggested to a hockey team-mate, Max Carson, that they go into business to supply such products to the trade. The operation was conducted, as Shirley Finishes Pty Ltd, from a garage in Crown Street, later in Chippendale. In due course the adhesives side of the business, initially based on formulations of natural rubber but later moving to synthetics, became the dominant one. In the mid-1950s, Carson acquired Alex's interests.

In parallel (1940) with another partner, Ray Russell, Alex embarked on actual chemical manufacture in Enmore, an inner suburb. A new company, Alex Minter & Co., was formed: the name was invented. A meat chemist, George Levack, suggested the first product: glyceryl monostearate, an emulsifier used, for example, in hair creams, and made by heating hydrogenated stearine with glycerol. Other trademarked products were copper oleate as a waterproofing agent, and products for hardening paints and metal welding fluxes. Alex Minter & Co. later moved to a seven-acre site in Northmead, manufacturing products for water treatment, preservation of textiles and various agricultural applications: aluminium sulphate and aluminium hydroxide gel, copper 'naphthanate' (hexahydrobenzoate), and metal stearates. Alex Minter was sold in 1961 to Chemical Materials Ltd.

Meanwhile in 1948 Alex founded Hardman Chemicals Pty Ltd and in 1953 he moved this operation to the site of a former army warehouse in Marrickville, on a residuum of which Boden Books (owner of Science Press) and a later company, Bioclone Australia, now operate. He embarked on a new venture based on reacting chlorine gas with ethanol and with benzene, a development that came about indirectly through one of his clients, a carpet manufacturing company. The technical director, Dr Egon Grauaug, was interested in making certain wetting agents used in wool scouring and hence in carpet manufacture. They were based on epichlorhydrin which can be made from glycerol and hydrogen chloride, and hydrogen chloride is readily made as a byproduct of organic chlorination reactions.

A product requiring chlorination chemistry is DDT (p,p'-dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane), the demand for which was just developing. The original intent was thus to use the manufacture of DDT as a source of hydrogen chloride for the manufacture of epichlorhydrin. In fact that objective was abandoned quite early in favour of the manufacture of DDT in quantity much greater than the demand for a speciality wetting agent would justify. Alex carried out the initial experiments at home, where a pilot chlorination plant was built, supervised during the day by his wife. Primary products of the chlorination of alcohol and benzene are trichloracetaldehyde ('chloral', an hypnotic) and chlorobenzene (plus higher chlorinated benzenes: markets were established for p-dichlorobenzene as an insecticide and as a counter-odorant, and for o-dichlorobenzene as a solvent and cleanser). Condensed together in the presence of cold fuming sulphuric acid, chloral and chlorobenzene produce DDT which separates as a waxy solid.

The accompanying rather dingy picture of the plant is reproduced from Boden's An Introduction to Physics and Chemistry (1959). The chlorination of ethanol was a continuous process. Alex recalled (in speaking notes for a lecture, post-1978) that in the early days he spent nights checking the process, sleeping near the coal-fired boiler to keep warm:

We could not afford to buy good chemical engineering equipment, so we made a lot of it ourselves. Teflon was relatively new then, and we pressed it and made it into gaskets and valves and pumps which worked well. No other plastic construction material was available to resist a mixture of hot solvent, chlorine, and hydrogen chloride.

Elsewhere he wrote:

The condensation of chloral and chlorobenzene is a right messy operation. Handling highly flammable poisonous solvents, corrosive hydrochloric acid and 103% sulphuric acid can hardly be taken as a chemical picnic. We had a keen team of fitters who built new plant as the old fell to pieces. ^[1]

The copious byproduct hydrogen chloride had to be disposed of. The economic viability of the enterprise was secured through a contract to supply the battery company Eveready, in nearby Rosebery, with drums of zinc chloride solution, made from Hardman's hydrochloric acid and scrap zinc obtained from galvanizing plants. In a reminiscence in 1986, he said:

We made DDT in those days, and when I say we, that meant everybody. We made zinc chloride and packed it into drums, and everybody had to help roll the drums up on to the truck which took them to Rosebery.

The manufacture of zinc chloride extended, using imported ammonium chloride, to zinc ammonium chloride for sale principally to the galvanized pipe division of Stewart and Lloyd, in Newcastle. There followed in the 1960s the establishment of a merchandising department selling eventually sodium fluoride, textile dyes and reflective sheeting. Cash flow was further bolstered by manufacturing, under license, a product for phosphatising steel prior to painting.

The company entered the 1960s with justifiable confidence, but Alex later said

I was fortunate to be involved in the chemical industry in the 1950s when shortages of chemicals meant that one could make a chemical with some hope of selling it. Now competition from overseas supplies and the high cost of labour make a new chemical enterprise expensive and hazardous. ^[2]

In fact, the 1960s were not easy. The company was short of capital and suffered from liquidity problems. There was a fire in the chlorobenzene plant. Against all Alex's instincts he was at times forced to retrench staff and at other times to ask staff to accept pay cuts.

His turnaround came in the late 1960s through George Levack who had moved to the central coast of New South Wales and had met Owen Chapman, an engineer involved in rutile mining there. Alex joined Chapman in a mining venture, Wyong Rutile Pty Ltd (later Wyong Minerals). For three years, as Coastal Chemicals Pty Ltd based at Wyong, he also manufactured rutile mining equipment in fibreglass. Wyong Minerals was later transformed into a sizeable holding in the then substantial Victorian Antimony Mining (VAM) group. The later timely sale of his interest in VAM was critical to his tenacious preservation of Hardman over the period that it was relocating to Seven Hills and recasting its product lines.

With the capital gained from the VAM transaction Alex further developed the Marrickville site and also built a portfolio of investments in public companies and commercial property developments. He had for many years been a ready and generous donor to causes scientific and individual. The income from these investments led him to think later about the possibility of larger philanthropies, and eventually made them possible.

The end of DDT

When Alex began manufacture in the 1950s, DDT was seen as a magical pesticide. It had saved possibly more lives than any previous man-made product. A change came with the raising of environmental alarms, for which DDT became the scapegoat and icon. Also, concern spread to human health. Alex, who had advanced ideas in regard to health checks for his staff, recalled:

During the years that our company made DDT I had, at various times, fears for my staff who, like myself, were reasonably saturated with the sticky stuff. I visited DDT plants in other parts of the world, and gradually became satisfied that DDT is harmless to man, and that DDT workers were as healthy as the general population. In the DDT plant in Los Angeles, the largest in the world, the workers were found to be average in all health respects except cancer cases which were, surprisingly, nil.

This led to a study of DDT as a cancer inhibitor. DDT was fed, along with a known carcinogen, to female rats. The results indicated that DDT-treated rats had a significantly lower incidence of mammary cancer, and a lower number of tumour sites than the control group. The work was not pursued because of the impossibility of experiments on humans, but it might have shown that the residues of DDT, for which DDT was banned on general aesthetic grounds, and because of its persistence in the environment, could have been beneficial after all. ^[2]

Also making DDT were ICIANZ and Union Carbide. Each eventually found its manufacture to be uneconomic. Hardman Chemicals continued making DDT through the 1960s, but environmental concerns led to its declining use and the problems of by-product waste disposal increased. Black liquid residues consisting mostly of sulphuric acid mixed with sulphonated chlorobenzenes were no longer welcome at the old brickpit tip at nearby St Peters. Alex could now buy hydrochloric acid more cheaply than he could make it. He told me too that whatever the case for continued approved uses, as a publisher of school texts that treated social issues in science, he could hardly continue to make such a controversial product. The resourceful integrated programme of manufactures based on chlorination chemistry, that had begun in the 1950s, closed in the early 1970s.

Hardman at Seven Hills

By then, most of the functions of Hardman had been moved to a 20-acre site at Seven Hills, in western Sydney. The land, a dairy farm, had been acquired in 1961. Production shifted from organics to inorganics, particularly aluminium chloride and chlorhydrate, zinc chloride and zinc ammonium chloride, which became the heart of the Hardman operation. With knowledge that his largest customer was planning to phase out its demand for zinc chloride, Alex sought an alternative product. For some years (commencing in Marrickville) he was able to secure a valuable raw material in the form of stockpiled baghouse fume from the copper smelter (Electrolytic Refining and Smelting, later Southern Copper) at Port Kembla. The fume was a complex mixture of 33% zinc, 25% lead and in amounts from 2% down to 0.5% copper, cadmium, arsenic, tin, bismuth and antimony, with other elements in still smaller quantities. Their recovery presented novel problems in extractive metallurgy. Eventually, zinc alone was recovered (as sulphate) at Hardman and the balance, in the form of lead sulphate with admixtures, was shipped profitably to an English smelter. By 1970 the company had built up a large export business, mainly of zinc sulphate (monohydrate and heptahydrate) to the USA. This achievement was recognised via a government E for Export Award.

Markets move: the demand for zinc chloride products fell, and further diversification was needed. To enlarge the company's customer base (up to that point, only about fifteen companies), manufacture commenced, under license, of a range of novel water-soluble epoxy resins for surface coatings and modification of concrete. Some non-chemical manufacturing was attempted, but faltered at the task of retail marketing.

In 1987 the company's name changed to Hardman Australia, primarily to identify more clearly its Australian origin and ownership, but also to distance itself from exclusive dependence on chemicals. The policy Alex set for it (recalled in later Board minutes) was simply that Hardman should be a conservative, ethical company to be operated with the aim of increasing its net worth. At the time of his death Hardman Australia had fifty staff and an annual turnover of the order of $15 million. Products manufactured included aluminium hydroxychloride and aluminium and magnesium hydroxide gel and polyaluminium chloride for adhesives, antiperspirants, liquid stomach antacids, and water treatment; zinc sulphate as a micronutrient for cereals and other crops and, specially formulated, as a treatment for footrot; zinc chloride and zinc ammonium chloride; magnesium chloride for textile processing and adhesives; magnesium hydroxide gel for pharmaceuticals; water-soluble epoxies; and certain moulded road-safety products such as reflective road markers and flexible reflective roadside posts. These manufactures were complemented by an extensive range of indented product lines, while a 49% owned company, Hardman Chemical Industries Pte [SIC] Ltd in Singapore, produced inorganic chemicals for the South-East Asian market.

Science press

There was a certain inevitability about Alex Boden becoming a publisher. As an undergraduate he had produced mimeographed lecture notes that were sold through the Sydney University Union. He is remembered as watching nearby to see how they were selling. He became production editor of the student newspaper Honi Soit and he sold advertising for the Science Association's Science Journal - no mean task in the depths of the depression. His reward was to meet Dr Ernest Harden, the Hungarian proprietor of the Shakespeare Head Press, whose advertisement appeared in the 1933 Journal.

A chance meeting after Alex's graduation led Harden to invite him to prepare a textbook for secondary school chemistry, suited to the New South Wales curriculum. From his own methodical high school notes, reworked to reflect his later studies and his developing interest in the economic significance of chemistry, he delivered in 1936 the manuscript of A Handbook of Chemistry. Notwithstanding that both professors of chemistry rang Harden to say that Alex didn't know enough chemistry to write a textbook, Harden went ahead and the book appeared in 1937 under the Shakespeare Head imprint. There was a revised edition in 1941, and then the publisher was taken over by Consolidated Press.

The Handbook of Chemistry was thus committed to the Consolidated (Shakespeare Head) Press, to that press's considerable profit. Harden described the book in his catalogue as one of the major successes of Australian publishing. Alex later compiled a more elementary Introduction to Modern Chemistry, which he thought should be sold at a low price. Harden said he could not sell it at the price proposed but encouraged Alex to publish it himself. He established Science Press in 1943, and its first productions in 1946 were the Introduction and a booklet of physics problems.

The notion, that the books produced by Science Press should be made available to students as cheaply as possible, was to be a hallmark of his press's operations. The result was, however, that the Press was in most years a drain on the group's finances, even though Alex never took out a salary for his role in it or charged rent. In short, the Press would not have survived without the backing of chemical manufacture.

Around this time Keith Bullen FAA FRS arrived in Sydney to the chair of applied mathematics. Alex agreed to publish his Introduction to the Theory of Dynamics (1948), subsequently enlarged to cover statics. The resulting Introduction to the Theory of Mechanics (1949), pitched at undergraduates or senior secondary pupils in the British system, received respectful reviews. Publication in Australia of a mathematical text to Bullen's excruciatingly meticulous standards presented problems. Having resourcefully resolved them, the effort brought its rewards: Bullen's Dynamics ran through eight editions over the next 22 years.

While the Press was active with reprints, further titles were added only slowly: another of Alex's own elementary books in 1959, then two mathematical texts by commissioned authors, and in 1962 his Senior Chemistry. Exclusive preoccupation with science ended in 1962/3, when the Press branched into high school texts in French and in literature. A six-part series on French was destined to be a conspicuous success, passing the landmark of a million volumes sold around 1990.

In the 1970s, Science Press's publication programme expanded, with an increasingly wide range of titles. Of the 140 titles published by Science Press up to the time of Alex's death, many would not have been of his direct concern. But surprisingly many would have been, to some degree. Alex loved editing and, to adopt the word he used for his role in Chemical Science (1976), producing books. The early textbooks on French were worked over intensively by him, providing exemplars of the way he thought Science Press should publish for Australian schools. To the end of his life he would use spare time on aeroplanes, in the early morning, or where else occurring, perfecting text: his own or his authors'.

An example will illustrate the ubiquity and detailed nature of his involvement. In 1975 the Press issued a kit text by T.Hackett et al. Communicate! An Introduction to the Language and Culture of Germany, Japan, France and Indonesia. With another edition on the way, he wrote in 1979 to Mrs Michiko Furosho, the opera singer daughter of a business associate in Tokyo, in the following terms:

Dear Michiko: I have a book on languages for Australian students. To go with each language we have a tape. On one side is text material, on the other we want to give songs of the country. These songs should be ones that the students can sing themselves and so learn to use the language ... I remember the beautiful songs that you sent to the ABC through me and your sweet voice would be ideal for the songs needed. What songs do you sing to Mikihito [her son]? I would like to ask if you could organise such a tape for me. Some variations would be welcome such as a male voice or a group of voices. Some of the children's choirs that I heard on Japanese TV were wonderful ...

A listing of the complete output of Science Press, up to the time of its founder's death, has been lodged with the Australian Academy of Science. This list of some 170 titles, seemingly so diverse, nevertheless reflects a consistent philosophy. One can discern in it the pedagogue manqué, the desire to deal with issues as well as with curricula and, even when the detailed decisions were not his, the hand upon the tiller. Music, art, communication, societies feature, far cries from chemistry; and new media such as audio and video cassettes appear.

The author

The chemistry texts used in Australian schools in the 1930s were invariably of British provenance and style. Alex Boden's first book, the Handbook of Chemistry, set a new pattern from the outset. Its frontispiece was a map of Australia with mineral occurrences marked. Its text was plain and clear with numerous Australian references and industrial and social allusions were prominent.

He was keen on the production of petrol from coal. The caption to Fig. 16 is pure, proselytising Boden (aged 23):

View of part of the works at Billingham, where petrol from coal is stored. Eventually coal may replace petroleum as a source of volatile fuel. New sources of energy will be one of the major problems of industry in the future.

Successive editions went through numerous changes. The second, in 1941, was 50% longer, and the seventh (1948) was further expanded. By then the book had been considerably transformed, especially in its much more numerous illustrations. The book remained in print, essentially unaltered, till the tenth edition (1957).

In 1945, to meet the requirements of the chemistry part of a combined Chemistry and Physics course in New South Wales, Alex compiled and, as had become his practice during successive revisions of the Handbook, trialled with the assistance of numerous school teachers, a shorter Introduction to Modern Chemistry (1946). The text was concise with generous illustrations and descriptions of applications of chemistry in industry and agriculture - and in a tentative way in biology.

Following the publication, collaboratively, of two small books of problems in elementary chemistry and physics, Alex next produced, in 1959, An Introduction to Physics and Chemistry. His diligence in locating appropriate and interesting illustrations is exemplified by a picture of tungsten atoms obtained by the then very new technique of field ion microscopy, the photograph having been obtained directly from the inventor of the method, Erwin Müller.

By 1960, the durable Handbook was out of date, and Alex set about preparing an entirely new Senior Chemistry (1962). In what became his characteristic mode, he was not just an author of the book but also its organizer, using his now numerous contacts in industry, CSIRO, and universities in Australia and abroad as sources of particular pieces of text and of illustrations. The book was copiously illustrated, often with pictures of recent research, especially in CSIRO: his objective was to have at least one half-tone or line block per page. Long before the rise of the feminist movement, he made a particular effort to include pictures of women and references to them. I was closely involved in this book and so witnessed his constant reworking of successive drafts, seeking clarity, conciseness and an effective page layout. I learnt a good deal from seeing my own contributions edited in this way. Frequently, revisions were made so that a page could end with a completed paragraph: a hard objective but one achieved with half of the recto pages of the book. Exquisite pains were taken with diagrams. Again the book was trialled extensively, in ten schools.

There followed an ambitious new venture: two multi-authored texts in general science, once again conceived, produced, copiously illustrated and ruthlessly edited by Boden. Introduction to Science (1964) is a notable achievement. Written for high school students in their first three years, it tackled the problem of teaching over the whole of science. It was successful and sold over 300,000 copies.

I see the production of this book, before its time in terms of international offerings, as a tour de force. This was to be a book for beginning science students: years seven-to-nine. The plan that Alex adopted for his Introduction to Science defined twelve chapters and within each about four defined sections, of which the fourth (given that the first chapters were to deal with the physical end of the sciences) deftly and progressively brought in treatments of biology, ecology, and issues of social consequence. The last of the twelve chapters, on Man and Food, presaged the concerns that were to lead him later to endow the Boden Chair of Human Nutrition.

The book, in six editions, had a successful market for the better part of twenty years. A self-contained sequel, with even more authors and more acknowledgements, was published in 1966 as Advancing with Science. Notable in this book is the explicit treatment of the biology of human reproduction.

Towards the end of the 1970s, Alex's Senior Chemistry became dated, socially as much as scientifically. At a colloquium on senior school chemistry in 1976 he said:

Chemistry is losing popularity among students because many of them consider it to be too hard; I suggest that the word 'irrelevant' be substituted for 'too hard'. Young people in general show a great aptitude for knowledge which they consider to be interesting or useful. Certainly the pressures of affluence affect the time available, and must be taken into account when we determine the rate at which knowledge can be fed to the students. They do not have as much time as they previously had to come to mental equilibrium with the great flow of new knowledge.

Having seen the need for an updated chemistry text, this time he enlisted help. The authorship of Chemical Science (1981) is attributed to Hunter, Simpson and Stranks, with a separate laboratory manual compiled by Carswell, the whole 'produced' by Boden. Eventual sales attained 100,000.

For some years, in the 1960s, when many publishers were commissioning their printing overseas, Alex considered he had a responsibility to support Australian printing houses. By the 1970s, however, the economics of offshore publishing were inexorable, and Chemical Science was printed, in multicolour, in Singapore.

With the production of Chemical Science one might have expected Alex to hang up his boots as a sole author of chemistry texts. Nevertheless, just five years later (he was then 73), there appeared his 512-page Chemtext (1986), just short of fifty years after his first book, the Handbook. Chemtext was a wholly new book as modern in its style as its snappy title, with an enthusiastic foreword by Barry O. Jones FAA, then Minister for Science. The next year, collaboratively, Alex published an accompanying Teachers' Manual.

For anyone who has taught chemistry - indeed science - over many decades, and perhaps was weaned on Boden's original Handbook, the shift that is shown in Chemtext is astonishing in its dimension, yet wonderful in its youthful spirit. Barry Jones launched the book and declared that Chemtext ought to be required reading for every member of the Federal Cabinet.

John Emsley, New Scientist's chemistry correspondent, in reviewing new offerings in the chemistry textbook market, also enthused:

Although people assume that the US is the only market capable of supporting full-colour general texts, Chemtext, by Alexander Boden from Australia, shows it can be done elsewhere. And done better. Here is a book imbued with the joy of chemistry. Items of human interest dot its pages, and Boden takes every opportunity to show the relevance of the subject to the everyday world ... Such is my admiration for this book that I can even forgive such words as 'weedicide' and the use of mL. ^[3]

For some decades the Australian Academy of Science lived, to a degree, on the proceeds of textbooks aimed at the same markets as those for which Alex Boden wrote and produced. Apart from the Academy's flagship biology text The Web of Life, Alex's books were as successful and influential as any.

The farmer

While searching for land on which to relocate Hardman, Alex was shown and later bought a dairy property near Windsor, from which in due course he delivered daily 150 gallons of Friesian milk to the Sydney market. The farm became his principal hobby and weekend retreat. It was also, from 1980, the site of an endeavour in the hydroponic production of vegetables, then more advanced in New Zealand than in Australia. With his son-in-law Hugh Thomas, he developed a 60m long pilot facility with automated analysis and supply of nutrients. Imported chemicals from New Zealand were replaced by Hardman, but there were continuing difficulties in maintaining chelated iron in solution. There were always difficulties in producing tomatoes and lettuce at premium price peaks. A flood terminated the venture. Dairying continues.

Bioclone Australia Pty Ltd

Alex had long deplored the loss to Australia when, as continues to occur, Australian innovations are exploited in other countries. An opportunity to take a personal hand in redressing the outflow came in 1979 through his chairmanship of the New South Wales State Committee of CSIRO. Here he became aware of the emergent outcomes of a collaboration that had been set up between CSIRO's Unit of Molecular and Cellular Biology (Dr Geoff Grigg) and the Garvan Institute of Medical Research (Dr Les Lazarus).

The objective of the collaboration was to develop a series of improved immunoassay systems for assaying human hormones, based on then new monoclonal antibodies. CSIRO and Garvan Institute scientists had isolated families of monoclonal antibodies specific to each of a series of pituitary hormones and began to integrate them into usable assay kits. At this point it was perceived that the development of practical kits for clinical use would be assisted by a commercial collaboration. In the market place these kits would be in competition with products dependent on an inferior technology using polyclonal antibodies. Grigg proposed to a business member of the CSIRO State Committee that a commercial venture be established to develop and market the new technology; the member, in turn, proposed that he and Alex form a partnership. The proposal fell on receptive ears, and Alex agreed.

This speculative enterprise engendered no enthusiasm at all among Alex's senior staff at Hardman, but after listening to the objections, he characteristically made his own decision. He explained that he had seen too much good research lost to the country, and that he considered that biological manufacturing had a promising future.

The decision he made was to set up a company, Bioclone, and provide its start-up finance. 'It happened that I had some shares which had been so much wallpaper for many years but had at last come good'. Management was through his senior Hardman staff. Dr John Smeaton, an expatriate who was running his own diagnostics supply company in the USA, was employed to run the new company and Bioclone was set up in Marrickville in mid 1981. Almost immediately Alex's intended business partner withdrew from the enterprise along with promised funds. Nonetheless, with resourceful improvization Bioclone eventually reached the market place, initially with a pregnancy test. When Smeaton left in 1985, turnover was approaching $1 million per annum, the on-site staff numbered six, and many more, funded by Bioclone, worked at the Garvan Institute and CSIRO.

Nevertheless, from the outset Bioclone seems to have experienced all the varieties of the culture shocks that are to be expected when academic and government scientists and commercial manufacturers meet under the same institutional roof. CSIRO and Garvan staff were critical of the resources Bioclone was prepared to provide or raise, while Hardman managers felt that the research staff saw Bioclone funds in the light of research grants: open ended, without fixed goals or milestones. There were different opinions about commercial strategies. In 1982 Alex made unsuccessful overtures for further capital but later, when urged to float the company - the funds, he was assured, would be easy to raise - he declined to do so. By then he had resolved to build the company through sales, as he had successfully done with Hardman. Another commercially sound objective, apparently favoured by some and certainly prevalent in the biotechnology world, would have been to get the company up to speed - or the prospect of it - and sell it quickly at a profit. This did not happen either: it would have negated Alex's basic reason for committing himself to Bioclone, and his instincts always were to invest for the long haul.

The venture did not enjoy a comfortable life. At its peak of sales performance Bioclone achieved annual sales approaching $3 million. For most of its time it was not profitable and Hardman Chemicals felt that it was haemorrhaging to support it. In the late 1980s, when cash requirements sought from Hardman magnified, there were fears that Hardman might be brought down. At that time Alex would gladly have floated Bioclone and sought to do so, but after the stockmarket crash of 1987 underwriters were unwilling. Crucial assistance was however negotiated through private equity investments, and the company's position improved to the point that it was holding its own and exporting some 25 diagnostic kits, mainly in the endocrine range. It was not, however, able to fund further development from its revenue. Following Alex's death, Bioclone was sold to Hitachi Australia and continues to operate at Marrickville. Thus, to some degree, Alex's primary motive in starting Bioclone was realised, even if not as spectacularly as might have been hoped for in the heady early days of biotechnology.

Ten years after Alex started Bioclone (1980), the Hawke Government initiated its Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) Program. The objectives of this programme are similar to those which Alex had for Bioclone. The social engineering which he sought to effect, in bringing public-sector research workers into effective collaboration with a market-driven private sector, for the benefit of everyone, has proved instructively testing in the six years of the CRC programme. In the execution of any cooperative contract there will be issues of governance, performance, intellectual property rights and strategy, foreign to managers accustomed to directing their own affairs. The university and other public-sector technology marketing companies that have sprung up since the mid-1980s all have hard-won experience of the problems. Alex was a decade ahead of the field.

Planner and manager

Alex Boden's forte was in vision and planning. Of necessity he coped with the mundane routine of general management but he did not enjoy it. Still less did he enjoy the personally distressing tasks that befall all managers at times. It is believed, for example, that he never personally sacked an employee.

Once Hardman Chemicals was on its feet, however, he was able to attract to the company a succession of capable managers. With his trusted managers in place, his style was to encourage, to give trust, to commend improvements and seldom to comment on what had gone wrong. He was also tenacious in holding to commitments he had made. Such tenacity, not always worn easily by his senior staff, was nevertheless characteristic of the way he stuck to and followed up all his decisions. Especially was this true of his philanthropy.

Behind Alex's success in building his company lay relentless enquiry, in the literature (he accumulated what was surely, in Australia, the only privately owned complete set of Chemical Abstracts - eventually given to Bond University), of consultants in the USA in relation to products, processes and markets, and of his exceptionally wide network of commercial, public sector and academic contacts.

His success was founded too on acute observation, of the world, of opportunities, and of the most trivial of passing events. Who else would have recorded in his daily diary that when he was driven from London to Slough at 7.30 am by Celltech's Chief Executive it was in a red Ford Granada? In his notes of business discussions he seems to have been as interested in his discussion partners as in the business matters. In 1967, some 30 tons of French DDT were brought in by a Perth company producing herbicides. Alex recorded a discussion with its principal. After noting that the latter had three children plus an adopted aboriginal boy, that his wife was keen on cooking and learning Russian, and that he had a large boat and 'doesn't worry about business', and yet more domestic details, he went on with:

At university [he] wrote anti-religious contributions to journals. He quoted Voltaire's 'the world will be happy when the last king is choked by the entrails of the last priest'. He talked of knowledge at various levels and [claimed that] with basic enough knowledge of tree and insect behaviour, infestations and even weather cycles can be predicted. I failed to see the connection and asked him to write it down for me.

I also said that business did worry me and instanced stray imports of DDT spoiling an overall arrangement with Australian manufacturers not to import. He said he had not acted with any intent ...

Alex was uninhibited and exceptionally diligent in pursuit of answers. It was entirely natural for him, when planning a visit to Cuba, to write first of all to Fidel Castro for permission to visit a factory (the request was granted). From time to time he would commission research (for example, in CSIRO on the purification of rutile and ilmenite) of a kind beyond the capacity of the company's laboratory. For Bioclone, he established a collaboration in Moscow.

Behind these enquiries lay relentless methodical note-making, a practice demonstrably entrenched in his undergraduate days. In thick carbon-copy volumes, entries were made every three weeks or so, summarizing technical data, market estimates and costs of potential products. Thus in 1955 a suite of successive entries were headed: Weed killers, DDT users, Potassium thiocyanate, Chloride factory, Copper cyanide, Ferrous oxalate, Phosphoric acid, Ammonium chloride, Zinc cyanide, Molybdenum salts. And later: Growing citrus.

Business philosophy: The Newcastle address

On 20 October 1987, Alex (then 74), was invited by the Newcastle Branch of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute to address it, before a dinner. He began: 'If you wish to doze off before dinner, please feel free'.

The unpublished text ^[1] that he prepared for this occasion traverses in serio-whimsical style his business life. 'My subject' he said, 'is the chemist as a businessman', and then he went on to say:

There is plenty of interest but little amusement in chemistry. Chemists generally are a serious bunch. They are taught to think before speaking and that is a serious handicap in a fast-moving world, especially if you are married.

Chemists are fenced off from the common herd by thoughts of accuracy and limits of error. A science student discussing his activities told his girl friend 'Today we measured thousandths of centimetres'. Gee', she said, 'How many thousandths are there in a centimetre?'. 'Bloody millions' he told her.

Then after discussing the conditions of employment of chemists, hinting at industrial relations, talking about risk taking and market appraisal comes, from the heart:

Some businesses begin as partnerships as prosperity starts to emerge, trouble sets in. Human beings have a great sense of self-esteem. It is rare that one partner credits the other for their prosperity. Sometimes, one becomes less satisfied with only half the cake, and the partnership can be in danger. The seeds of disagreement can be very small. The magnificent partnership of Gilbert and Sullivan broke up over the colour of a new carpet for a theatre. A successful partnership, like a good marriage, can be very satisfying, but it needs wary planning.

On the choice of a business:

What to make in a new business? Something that people want? Nowadays, people are [so] saturated with offers of many goods and services that they do not seem to want anything. Rather the question must be 'What can you sell?' A chemist is likely to think of starting up a business by making chemicals. This is an unlikely way to go

The majority of successful businesses do not involve chemicals. All involve service of some kind which people want to buy.

A business rarely starts with a new invention. That is too chancy. Find something to sell, and start selling it. Then look around for ideas to improve profit by your effort so that you can pay the rent and the wages. Use your friends to help you and your enemies to goad you on. You can spend a lifetime working out a better mouse container. Or you can buy traps from someone who already makes them, and then go out and sell them. A business is there to make money, not to make mouse traps, or chemicals, or magic pills.

As a general rule I suggest that a business is better based on consumable items than on items for which you need a stream of customers beating a path to your door. If you can find a customer for an item which can be sold to the same customers time after time it can be better than having to find a new buyer for each sale.

Further material of an autobiographical nature from this notable address has been incorporated elsewhere in this memoir.

The public persona

Alex was a private man. He did however belong to Sydney's best endowed club, the Australian, and, when not entertaining on his own territory, enjoyed using the club to consolidate friendships. He was a lifelong Freemason.

From the late 1960s onwards he accepted various honorary appointments, among them Vice-President (1968) of the Australian Chemical Industries Council (on which body he was the most substantial sole proprietor), Chairman of CSIRO's New South Wales State (advisory) Committee (1979), and by election a member of the Senate of the University of Sydney (1979­82). I think it could be said, however, that committees were not his milieu (unless he were in the chair).

Family man

On 20 November 1943, Elizabeth Constance McVicar was married to Alexander Boden at St Stephen's Presbyterian

Church in central Sydney. Beth McVicar was a science graduate who had met Alex some years before when, while an undergraduate, she sought vacation employment. They honeymooned at the Naval Lodge, Jervis Bay. The surviving receipt, a reminder of the times, says: please bring tea, butter and sugar coupons.

There were five children, all Sydney University graduates: Alexandra (medicine), Diana (a PhD in biochemistry), Elissa (agriculture and law), William (science) and Helena (science and psychology). All are married, between them they have eighteen children and grandchildren, every one treasured by Alex whose attention to them all was extraordinary, given the demands of his business life. The headmistress of his daughters' school used to say that he was the only father she could count on to turn up for the school's sports and open days.

The public side of Alex's life was business and its attendant risk-taking; his family was his haven and delight, and Beth was his complement. A colleague has commented that he lived very comfortably among females: four out of five children and nearby a vigorous artistic mother-in-law. Alex, for all his network of professional contacts, was inherently a reserved man. Beth, the most generous of hostesses, was his perfect foil. Between them, they projected, and delivered, a special kind of expansive hospitality.

There was a choice of venues for their hospitality, and all were much used by children, grandchildren and guests: their principal house in Roseville, a rangy holiday house at Palm Beach, another house at Blackheath in the Blue Mountains, and the farm.

Travelling and the cultivation of friendships

In a letter written in 1987 Alex supplied a short curriculum vitae concluding with:'Hobbies: Trying to avoid being drowned in paper. Travelling. Collecting personal relationships.' The last two of these 'hobbies' interlocked. While his travels were often for business purposes, the end result was as much the cultivation of friendships, new and renewed, as the achievement of any commercial objectives.

His first foray beyond Australia was in 1951, by air, when intercontinental air travel was novel, airport departures were as enthusiastic and social as the streamered farewells accorded to departing passengers on ocean liners, and the BCPA DC6 aircraft offered sleeping accommodation. Beth accompanied him. They went to the USA and attended the Diamond Jubilee Banquet of the American Chemical Society where he first met Linus Pauling, who many years later was to suggest the title for the endowed Boden Chair of Human Nutrition. Back in Australia, Alex sought out visitors to the country whom he might be able to entertain and assist. In 1956 he received the following letter from Missouri:

Your kind invitation was highly appreciated. I wish I could accept, but conditions have arisen, unfortunately, which will prevent my visiting Australia as planned. I regret it very much. Harry Truman.

Dr Geoff Grigg has recalled his style:

Alex liked making the opportunity to meet old scientific friends and to hear what they were doing with their science or their families. He was a kind man and always generous with his time and with his hospitality. On learning that an old friend was flying off somewhere or returning from overseas and arriving at the crack of dawn he would be down to farewell him or her or to pick them up and drive them home. Perhaps it was not such a sacrifice for Alex to get up early to go to the airport as it would be for most, since he made a practice of starting work very early, at 4.30 am anyway.

In 1976 agreements were concluded with the Mafatlal Group in Bombay to promote their dyestuffs and textile chemicals. Before long personal contacts ­ including attendance at four magnificent Mafatlal family weddings in Bombay - became far more important to Alex than mere business.

In the mid-1960s Sergei Kapitza, son of the Nobel Laureate Peter Kapitza, spent some months in the Physics Department at the University of Sydney. He was admirably sociable and it was inevitable that the Bodens would draw him and his wife into their hospitality. The Kapitzas became family friends. Again, in 1979 Alex met Professor Yuri Obchinnikov who represented the USSR Academy of Science at the Australian Academy's 25th anniversary celebration. Professional contacts ensued. These connections became close, evidenced by five visits to Moscow, photographs of three generations of Kapitzas, and in travel diaries admiring descriptions of Obchinnikov's offices and his ways of dealing with the Soviet bureaucracy.

Some years later Obchinnikov, his wife and two colleagues came at Alex's invitation to attend a Boden conference on 'Membranes: Fundamentals and Applications'. It was then learned that Obchinnikov had a terminal illness; upon his death Alex was invited to contribute a memoir to a commemorative volume Portrait of a Scientist (Through his Friends' Eyes) in which it has presumably been published in Russian.

He had other close friends in Japan, China, Singapore, Europe, America and China. The last included two doctors, married, whom he twice funded for experience in Australian hospitals.

The better to sustain these friendships, Alex in his later years was grappling with Russian and Mandarin.

The philanthropist

It may be that, for those few with great accumulated wealth and a philanthropic inclination, they do not know how to begin. Hence charitable foundations. For Alex, charity began while he was still anxiously watching his bottom line. The University of Sydney was his principal beneficiary over many decades, starting in 1946 (he was then 33 and hardly grandly pecunious), when he met a request for funds to restore the third year chemistry laboratory (the cost was £1230/6/8, which closely approximated the salary of a professor at the time). But beyond the formal record lie many gifts unrecorded. They include help to his many immigrant employees, especially towards the education of their children, and (gleaned from letters poked into filing cabinets) frequent assistance towards travel abroad by scientists. However, no donation from Alex ended with the gift: the donor would take a long-term interest in the outcome and the recipient might well benefit further. The impersonal character of the conventional welfare charities thus held no attraction for him.

His gifts to the University of Sydney escalated when approached by Professor Hans Freeman FAA, in his pre-professorial days. Freeman has recalled his first conversation with Alex at a departmental cocktail party.

I had recently returned from CalTech to take up a Lectureship. My ambition was to explore the function of metals in biological systems by studying the crystal structures of metal complexes with simple biological ligands. At the time this was avant-garde stuff and the prospects for getting support for the research in Sydney were not promising. The world, even after sherry, looked gloomy. Someone introduced me to Alex and to this day I do not know what I said to him. A little while later he turned up with a cheque for £5000, a very large sum in 1959.

That gift funded Alexander Boden Fellowships. Some years later (1970) when Freeman was appointed to the chair of inorganic chemistry he asked Alex for help in maintaining a higher visibility for the subject. Alex sponsored, and found among his business contacts donors for, the Foundation for Inorganic Chemistry. It has a governing board that he chaired till his death. He made the point at the outset that if you are going to have donors you have to thank them, and so it happened that to inaugurate the Foundation, there was a dinner in the University's Great Hall. Freeman proposed that Linus Pauling and his wife be the first visitors sponsored by the Foundation, and that they attend the dinner. Freeman recalls:

Totally charmed by Linus Pauling, Alex appointed himself as his chauffeur for the three weeks of his stay in Sydney. It was on the way from the Sebel Town house to the ABC studios in William Street that Alex asked, as only Alex could: 'Linus, what is the most important research in the world today?'. The answer, as we turned into William Street, was instantaneous. 'Research on human nutrition. Think of how much suffering could be prevented if we knew more about fundamental aspects of human health.'

The Foundation, set up with a capital fund, supports two visiting scientists each year.

There were many other gifts. From back in the 1960s, when it could have been said that Professor Harry Messel and Alex were contenders in the high school publishing field, to the time of his death, Alex was a consistent and generous supporter of Messel's Science Foundation for Physics. To the Chemistry Department, there was a donation for what has now appropriately been renamed the Alexander Boden Library. He was a continuing and substantial supporter of selected causes within medical research institutes, among them the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital's positron emission tomography project, the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute, the Prince Henry Hospital Brain Surgery Unit, and Foundation 41. Of his donations he once remarked:

By good luck I have been able to work without having to obtain capital from others. This is particularly useful when you want to give money away, something no sensible partner would tolerate.

The Boden chair of human nutrition

The interchange with Pauling, reported above, appears to have crystallized an intention that Alex had been tossing around in his mind: to endow a chair, a Boden chair, in the faculty of science of the University of Sydney. The potential for application of benefit to Australia, and especially to humanity, was always a criterion.

Pauling at the time of his 1973 visit brought with him a copy of his latest book, Orthomolecular Medicine. Alex later said (of an intention that almost certainly only firmed up during and because of that visit):

I told him of my intention to fund a chair along the same lines of Medicine linked to good chemistry, but indicated that 'orthomolecular medicine' was not familiar to all. He then suggested that Nutrition would be a more understandable subject and so it was named. The department of Human Nutrition, as distinct from animal nutrition, has prospered in a satisfactory manner since then.

He called on the Vice-Chancellor to tell him of his intention and to enquire what the cost would be. Sir Bruce Williams recalls that Alex was pensive, but not deterred, when informed of a sum of the order of twenty times a professorial salary. Some two years later he told Williams that he believed he could subscribe the funds over a period, but would need to talk first with the members of his company - 'he preferred the term members to employees' - to secure their concurrence to the gift. The drawdown of capital that might otherwise be employed for Hardman's purposes could affect their livelihoods.

The Boden Chair of Human Nutrition was created in 1976 to 'develop teaching and research in human nutrition. Especially in developed countries there is evidence that dietary factors may be involved in the etiology of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, malignant disease and obesity in childhood and adult life.'

In a eulogy given at a meeting of the Faculty of Science in 1994, the first incumbent, Professor Stewart Truswell, said:

After endowing this unique chair, Alex's consistent, non-interfering encouragement and moral support were just as important to the realisation of his dream ... On my first day as Boden professor, the senior administrator in the staff office said they were worried because there had never been an endowed chair with the benefactor living. Perhaps Mr Boden might exert undue academic influence on me! As it turned out I can only recall one occasion when Alex discouraged me in a particular project - and he was right.

Truswell arrived in May 1978, and was duly taken under the Bodens' social wing. He did not, however, have a dowry of money for research. He found himself in some difficulty with other senior people in fields cognate with his about raising money for nutrition. An Australian Nutrition Foundation was to be set up with the aim of educating the public. Truswell wanted it to fund nutrition research as well: this was thought not to be feasible. He has recalled:

On 4 October 1978 in my diary: 'Several talks with Alex Boden. We agree to start our own Sydney University Nutrition Foundation and leave the other Australian Nutrition Foundation be'. So we had two parallel foundations, one for nutrition education of the public across Australia, the other ours with the objective of supporting research in the Human nutrition unit in the University of Sydney.

Alex's support was crucial in getting the foundation going. With his continuing attention, gently expressed, it prospered, and the Human Nutrition Unit appears to be securely entrenched in the University.

The Boden Conferences

The Australian Academy of Science was, to a significant degree, Alex's principal Australian competitor in the world of science publishing for secondary schools. But then he knew personally, through his professional and philanthropic interests, a surprisingly numerous and diverse sample of its Fellows. He had been since 1977 a member of the Academy's Science and Industry Forum.

The Academy's history, The First Forty Years, states that in 1979 the National Committee for Biological Sciences proposed that a series of small, specialist meetings on biological subjects should be established as a continuing activity, and that Alex agreed to fund them. What actually happened was that Dr Jim Peacock FAA in his CSIRO Plant Industry office admired a style of conferences, type-named Gordon Conferences, in the USA and felt that Australian biologists needed a similar opportunity. Peacock recalls:

I asked Alex to join me in my office one day when he was to be in Canberra, to discuss over a sandwich lunch an Academy matter on which I needed his advice. He agreed. I began by describing the Gordon Conference concept and I explained why I thought conferences of that kind could be of great benefit to biological research in Australia. Alex showed gratifying interest. I went on to ask for his suggestions on how the Academy might gather up commercial support to meet the costs of organising such meetings - the principal cost being fares for distinguished invited speakers from outside Australia. Alex then said: 'Oh well. I might as well put up the money myself'.

What he agreed to do was to supply the funds needed for two conferences a year for three years, later extended to five. The conference themes were to be proposed to an Academy committee, which Peacock chaired, through appropriate scientific societies. Commencing in 1981, a pattern was set of sequential conferences held at Thredbo in the Australian Alps each February. Alex and Beth Boden attended them and their participation and enjoyment enhanced and distinguished the meetings.

In 1985 Peacock with the then President of the Academy, Arthur Birch, invited Alex to a private dinner at Sydney's leading hotel. As the meal drew to an end, Alex (who no doubt could sense a baited trap better than most) asked what the purpose of the exercise might be, and that was duly identified: the need for a capital fund to support the Boden conferences in perpetuity. What would that cost? Peacock just happened to have the calculations at hand. Alex gave in graciously. The specific agreement was to provide $200,000 over four years. The future of the Boden conferences was assured.

A list of the topics of all Boden Conferences, to 1994, is in The First Forty Years. In recognition of Alex's benefactions and other contributions to the Academy's work, the enclosed garden at the city side of the Academy's Ian Potter House was named Boden Court.

Recognition

Alex had to wait till he was nearly seventy to receive the accolades he manifestly deserved. Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science by Special Election, in 1982; Officer in the Order of Australia, in 1984; Leighton Medallist (the Leighton Medal is the senior award of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute) in 1986; Honorary Doctorate in Science (Sydney) in 1984. The last gave him especial pleasure.

Envoi

One didn't argue with Alex Boden. That was because he didn't care to argue with you: he once wrote: 'One should not speak unless one can improve on silence'. The rules of the game were respect for each other's position, but let's get on to some matter of mutual interest. He spoke ill of no one: affronts he shrugged off. This technique must have been effective in business, where one senses he offered a delphic front.

In Who's Who in Australia he listed his recreations alliteratively as 'fitness, farming and photography'. Sport was part of his early life; fifty years later he was attending a gymnasium three times a week. Under the influence of Linus Pauling and the Human Nutrition chair, but also of the vegetarian customs to which he was introduced through his connections in India, he was carefully observant of his diet, though not to the point of eschewing good cuisine.

He was tough. In later years he was prone to angina, but refused to take medication even when it was placed in his pocket. But eventually heart surgery became unavoidable. An emergency operation in 1990, while successful, did slow him down. At a crowded fiftieth wedding anniversary celebration late in 1993, attended by a host of friends and children and children's children, he nevertheless gave a spirited speech. Shortly afterwards, aged 80 and never having retired from active work, he died quietly at home in the company of his family.

About this memoir

This memoir was originally published in Historical Records of Australian Science, Vol.11, No.4, 1996. It was written by I.G. Ross AO FAA, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry, former Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Australian National University (RMB 2039, Queanbeyan NSW 2620).

Acknowledgments

My thanks are due, above all, to Mrs Beth Boden for uncovering from scattered material the key sources for this biography. From the family, Dr Diana Thomas and Bill Boden especially gave help. And besides those named in the text I am indebted to Don Baty (the longest serving Hardman employee, eventually a director), Max Carson, David Castleman, Bill Ferguson, Dr Ken Ferguson and Bruce Fielden.

Notes

^[1] Address to the Newcastle Branch of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, 20 October 1987, unpublished. Some of the material in this text had been used in an earlier address in Adelaide, a short version of which appeared as A. Boden, 'Chemistry for Pleasure and Profit: A Personalised View of the Practice of Chemistry', Chemistry in Australia, April 1986, p. 110.

^[2] A. Boden, in F.W.G. White (ed.), Scientific Advances and Community Risk, Science and Industry Forum Report No. 13, pp. 125­39 (1980). This article is substantially a recapitulation of A. Boden, 'Industrial and Social Risks Associated with Pesticides', Chemistry in Australia, March 1979, pp. 93­7.

^[3] J. Emsley, New Scientist, 28 April 1988, p. 79.

Unattributed quotations are from family papers, mostly untitled and undated.

Bert Main (1919–2009) was recognised both nationally and internationally as one of Australia's leading zoologists and a gifted naturalist. 

His research and ecological teaching on a wide variety of animals, including frogs, reptiles, birds, insects and marsupials, laid the foundations for three generations of graduate students who were inspired by his imagination and biological insight. 

His foresight and energy as an administrator on government bodies also led to the creation of some of Western Australia's most important National Parks and Nature Reserves that are vital for the preservation of Australia's rich biodiversity and form part of his enduring legacy.

Download the memoir

About this memoir

This memoir was originally published in Historical Records of Australian Science, vol. 22(1), 2011. It was written by S. D. Bradshaw, School of Animal Biology M092, The University of Western Australia.

Sir David Rivett was a physical chemist and science administrator. He spent two decades leading Australia's Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), first as chief executive officer from 1927 and then as Chairman from 1946 to 1949, shaping the organisation that would become the CSIRO. He was a Foundation Fellow of the Academy and served as vice-president 1954–1955.

Download the memoir

Written by Peter Hannaford.

Alan Walsh was the originator and developer of the atomic absorption method of chemical analysis, which revolutionised quantitative analysis in the 1950s and 1960s. Atomic absorption provided a quick, easy, accurate and highly sensitive method of determining the concentrations of more than 65 of the elements, rendering traditional wet-chemical methods obsolete. The method has found important application worldwide in areas as diverse as medicine, agriculture, mineral exploration, metallurgy, food analysis, biochemistry and environmental control, and has been described as 'the most significant advance in chemical analysis' in the 20th century.

Family background and early influences

Alan Walsh was born on 19 December 1916 and brought up in Hoddlesden, a small moorland village in the borough of Darwen, in Lancashire, England, about twenty miles north of Manchester. He was the eldest son of Thomas Haworth Walsh, who managed a small family cotton mill in Hoddlesden, and Betsy Alice Walsh (née Robinson). He had an older sister, Evaline, and two younger brothers, Jack and Tom. In 1947 Alan emigrated to Australia and soon afterwards met an English-born nurse, Audrey Dale Hutchinson, whom he married in 1949. They had two sons, Thomas Haworth and David Alan.

The family cotton mill, Vale Rock Mill, Holden Haworth Ltd, was one of two mills that employed most of the people in Hoddlesden and many from the next town. Alan's father, Thomas, was an astute and remarkable man who managed the mill for 52 years, including the period during the late 1920s and 1930s when the cotton industry was badly hit by the depression. Thomas had the interests of his family at heart but laid down the rules and would not allow disobedience of any kind. Alan's mother, Betsy, was a charming, warm-hearted woman. Alan was very like her in some ways but his astuteness and determination came from his father. The village was quiet: just one pub, a school, a church and a village shop, which Alan's grandfather, Benjamin Walsh, ran and which sold everything from meat, vegetables and groceries to clothing. Benjamin was a friend and helper of the vicar, and had a big say in village affairs. Alan's grandmother, Mary (née Haworth), was a strong-minded woman of the old school who insisted on good manners at all times.

Alan's uncle and godfather, Marsden Walsh, described Alan as a delightful and serious boy. He was something of a loner and happy with his own company, qualities his uncle said would stand him in good stead. Even though he had quite a serious side to him, he had a great sense of fun. He had what was known as a lazy eye and for a period had to wear a patch. He made light of this and fooled about so that his friends thought nothing of it because he made them laugh. He had a great sense of humour, but was never unkind at someone else's expense. Whenever he talked about his early life, he would say he was brainwashed – too much religious teaching – and how narrow their life was. Once when asked what he wanted to do with his life he said 'I want to find things out and how they work'. So, when later he became a scientist his uncle was not surprised. 

Education

From the age of ten Alan attended the local grammar school in the nearby town of Darwen, where he passed the Northern Universities Matriculation examination in 1933 and the Higher School Certificate examination in 1935. Of his school days, Alan recalls:

I had no idea where I was headed during secondary school. In fact when I was 16 years old I was advised to do French, English and History and drop Science. At the time I was having trouble with eye strain and because I thought French, English and History would involve a lot of reading, I chose rather to study Mathematics, Chemistry and Physics in which I performed quite well…. [1]

At that stage I was very uncertain about my next step. I remember being attracted by a teacher training course, but my headmaster had other ideas. He finally spoke to my father and they persuaded me to apply for the honours course in physics at the University of Manchester. [2]

In October 1935 Alan entered the honours school of physics at the University of Manchester. In his second and third years he was a resident at St Anselm Hall, where the warden, the Reverend T.H. South, described him as 'a quiet, industrious student, with a sense of humour, and a sense of responsibility, who has been popular and respected in Hall. He has been a successful captain of our Association Football XI this season.' In his final year Alan took the joint course in physics and electrotechnics, an option available for honours students in physics.

Of his time at Manchester, Alan recalls: [3]

It was only after I went to university that I experienced the real joys of learning and research. I had been at university only two weeks when I attended a lecture by Professor (later Sir) Lawrence Bragg, who was head of the University Physics Department. In a lecture to the University Physical Society he told, in extremely simple language, the story of the pioneering work he and his father had done in their development of X-ray methods for determining the structure of crystals. The basic simplicity and beauty of their contribution greatly impressed us freshers: the drama was enhanced by the knowledge that their work had been of such outstanding merit that they were awarded the Nobel Prize.

Even after graduating from Manchester University, I still had no definite plans regarding my future employment. The problem was shelved when, much to my surprise, I was awarded a research scholarship to work on the determination of crystal structures by X-ray methods.

In August 1938 Alan undertook postgraduate research in the Physics Department at the Manchester College of Technology, which later became the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. His supervisor was Dr William H. Taylor, Head of the Physics Department at that time and known for his X-ray work on mineral crystals. During this period Alan's research was influenced by Dr Henry Lipson, who proposed that he study the structure of ß-carotene, an important biological molecule that presented a considerable challenge to X-ray structure analysis at that time. He spent one year at the Manchester College of Technology and then continued the theoretical work on the analysis of ß-carotene for a further period after he had moved to the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association. He was awarded the degree of MSc (Tech) in 1944 for a thesis entitled An X-ray examination of ß-carotene. In 1960 he was awarded a DSc from the University of Manchester for his contributions to atomic and molecular spectroscopy. 

The war years 1939–45

In September 1939 Alan began duties as Investigator in the Physics Section of the British Non-Ferrous Metals Research Association (the 'BNF') in Euston Street, London, under the direction of the leading British spectrographer, D.M. Smith. Alan recalled:3

In the first place I was to work on the development and application of spectroscopic [emission] methods of metallurgical analysis, about which I virtually knew nothing, but with the intention of also, in due course, working on X-ray studies of metals. With the outbreak of war [on the day he was due to start], these plans were abandoned and for the duration I worked only on spectroscopy.

During World War II Alan was unable to join the Services because of his metallurgical occupation, but he undertook part-time service in the Home Guard, where 'he was put in the mobile cavalry (bicycle section), being of the athletic type. He had represented Manchester at tennis'. [4]

At the BNF Alan was given the task of determining which metals were being used in enemy bombers which had been shot down. The information was passed on to the war economists, who could then make deductions about how the German war effort was progressing. During this time Alan devised a number of methods for the rapid and accurate spectrographic analysis of aluminium, copper and zinc based alloys (1-4). These methods also had an important role in the production control of war materials and were widely used in industry. The usual procedure was to make the sample for analysis one electrode of an electric arc or spark and to examine the light emitted by means of a spectrograph. The presence of any element could be detected by noting the wavelengths of the spectral lines while their intensities were a measure of the concentrations.

During the course of this work Alan became aware that when following a method that worked well in one laboratory, difficulties arose when applying it in others. He then devised and built a prototype of the General Purpose Source Unit (8) from existing components and bits and pieces of government surplus. This unit was a highly versatile but simple electrical source unit, capable of generating a variety of electrical discharges, including arc-like and spark-like discharges, for use in spectrographic emission analysis. The 'Walsh Circuit' permitted a high degree of stability and reproducibility of the electrical characteristics of individual discharges. Alan assisted in developing the commercial form of the Source Unit, which was subsequently manufactured by Hilger and Watts Ltd, London as the BNF Spectrographic Source Unit FS 130. It appeared on the market in 1950 and was still being produced in the 1980s.

In January 1944 Alan was seconded to the post of Deputy Chief Chemist at the Metal and Produce Recovery Depot, Ministry of Aircraft Production, in Eaglescliffe, Durham. There he was in charge of the laboratory and technical operations concerning the preparation and inspection of aluminium ingots obtained by melting aircraft scrap.

In January 1945 Smith left the BNF to join Johnson Matthey, and Alan returned to the BNF as Chief Spectroscopist to take charge of the spectrographic research and to give assistance in other applications of physics to metallurgy. Later in 1945 Alan visited Germany as a member of the British Intelligence Objective Sub-Committee Team on Spectrochemical Analysis. Bill Ramsden, who worked at the BNF from 1950 to 1954 and later became a life-long friend of Alan's, writes: [5]

My own impressions are that Alan Walsh was a rather unique person, characterised by an original mind and an unusual ability to penetrate to the heart of a problem. He was also a 'character', possessed of a dazzling wit and a mischievous sense of humour, and one was very fortunate to be in his company…. As far as the BNF was concerned, I have no doubt that he created 'waves' in that establishment.

During the spring of 1945 the BNF was asked to explore the possibilities of developing a spectrographic technique for determining impurities in uranium metal, and Alan duly devised a method for doing this that was released for publication some years later (14). Around this period the BNF was involved in the 'Tube Alloys Project', which was a cover for the development of the British atom bomb. Former staff from the BNF were recently astonished to read in The Times [6] that a secretary at the BNF, Melita Sirnis (later Melita Norwood), had been recruited by the KGB and had been passing on 'highly sensitive' material to the Soviet Union for forty years under the code name of 'Hola'. Melita Sirnis had been personal secretary to the Director of the BNF, Dr G.L. Bailey, during the period 1939-1948 and would have had free access to the Association's work during that period. However, Bill Ramsden recalls that during his time at the BNF, from 1950-54, there was certainly no level of security or screening and doubts that 'highly sensitive' material would have been sent after 1950. [7] He writes 'Certainly, the thought of my early reports on photoelectric emission spectroscopy as well as the details of the Walsh BNF Source Unit being available to the Kremlin before being circulated to BNF members is slightly hilarious.'

Of his research at the BNF Alan wrote (83):

By the end of the war I think there was a general feeling of satisfaction, and perhaps even a state of euphoria, regarding the development of spectrochemistry. I believe few workers shared my strong conviction, which I frequently expressed, that further progress would require a completely new line of attack. I tried desperately hard to conceive totally different approaches but came to a total impasse…

I was particularly conscious of the fact that accurate analysis [by atomic emission] required standards of very similar composition to the sample for analysis. If one wanted to be cynical about this then one could claim that accurate spectrochemical analysis consisted in confirming that the composition of a sample was what it was supposed to be…

It was with a sigh of relief that I left these problems of spectrochemical analysis in 1946…

The early CSIR/CSIRO years 1946–51

*Appointment to the CSIR Division of Industrial Chemistry, Melbourne, Australia

In 1945 Alan applied for an advertised position of Research Officer for Spectroscopic Investigations in the Chemical Physics Section of the Division of Industrial Chemistry, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), at Fisherman's Bend in Melbourne. The Chief of the Division, Dr I.W. (later Sir Ian) Wark, had proposed the establishment of a new Chemical Physics Section to apply modern physical techniques to the solution of chemical problems. The functions of the Section would include 'spectrographic work of a fundamental nature and general spectro-analysis for the Division'. [8] Dr A.L.G. (Lloyd) Rees, who took up the position of Section Leader of the new Chemical Physics Section in November 1944, convinced Wark to purchase several state-of-the-art spectroscopic instruments, including a large Hilger-Littrow quartz spectrograph, a Hilger-Müller double monochromator, a Beckman DU ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometer, and a Perkin-Elmer Model 12B infrared spectrometer. The Research Officer for Spectroscopic Investigations would be responsible for setting up a laboratory for emission spectrographic analysis and for undertaking research in the newly developing field of infrared spectroscopy.

In July 1945 a report of an interview at the Australian Scientific Liaison Office in London by a junior officer states 'Walsh does not give me the impression of one who could direct research, but I should imagine he would be a careful and painstaking worker'. The position was subsequently offered to a another applicant, who after a considerable period of time could not make up his mind. After Alan had contacted the Liaison Office to enquire about his application, Mr Lewis Lewis, who at that time was the Australian Scientific Liaison Officer in London, wrote to Wark about Walsh 'with whom I was quite well impressed'. In March 1946, in a letter to CSIR Head Office based on a recommendation from Rees, Wark wrote:

Walsh seems to have been in charge of a small team at the BNF and is held in sufficient regard to be sent to Germany… These facts, combined with Lewis' favourable impression, lead us to the conclusion that we have been unduly cautious regarding him. In any case, there is room for a man of his attainments for pure research work, even if we must ultimately seek another leader.

In May 1946 Alan was duly appointed to CSIR, but before leaving England, Wark and Rees arranged for him to spend a period of three to four months in the laboratory of G.B.B.M. (later Sir Gordon) Sutherland in Cambridge, obtaining experience in the new field of infrared molecular spectroscopy. During this period in Cambridge, Alan established life-long associations with two molecular spectroscopists, Donald Ramsay and Norman Sheppard, the latter of whom introduced Alan to the experimental and theoretical aspects of infrared spectroscopy. This work in Sutherland's group led to a paper in Nature on the infrared spectrum and molecular structure of phthiocerane (10). In a letter to Wark, Sutherland wrote 'in my opinion you have got hold of a very good man'.

Alan set sail for Australia via the USA, where he visited a number of companies and laboratories to see the various items of spectroscopic equipment that Rees had ordered for the new spectroscopy laboratory at CSIR. He arrived in Melbourne in April 1947 aboard the 'Dominion Monarch'. Upon arrival in the CSIR Division of Industrial Chemistry at Fisherman's Bend in Melbourne, Alan recounted: [9]

The main building of the laboratories was most impressive, almost posh. Behind was a motley collection of old army huts. But the scientific equipment was first class… The conditions for the 'men at the bench' were utopian. Individual freedom and initiative were not only permitted, they were actively encouraged; a bold failure was more highly regarded than a cautious advance. Red tape and bureaucratic nonsense were totally absent.

The working conditions bore no relationship whatsoever to the popular concept of a government-controlled organisation. The frequent arrival of new staff, many from overseas, and of magnificent new equipment contributed to the general feeling of excitement. It was as lively a place to work in as one could imagine. The high calibre of the leadership at that time is reflected by the subsequent careers of Sir Ian [Wark], his right-hand man Mr Lewis Lewis, and those who were section leaders…

We were a hard working bunch. Most of us worked on Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and there were usually several people in the laboratories on other evenings and at weekends. Even the Minister [in charge of CSIRO] R.G. Casey used to visit the laboratories at weekends. He took an earnest interest in all the research projects…

An amusing facet of life at that time was that many of us were operating instruments and techniques which were unique in Australia. We could therefore claim undisputed leadership within Australia of various areas of chemical research. We rather enjoyed being referred to as a 'pride of prima donnas'.

Whilst life was fun it was also earnest, and there was no escape from Wark's insistence on excellence. As an example, the inimitable R.G. (Dick) Thomas said, 'If you tell Wark in the morning you have discovered how to annihilate gravititational forces, he'll want to know what you're going to do in the afternoon'.

Infrared molecular absorption spectroscopy

Upon commencing at CSIR Alan set about installing the new Perkin-Elmer Model 12B spectrometer, thereby establishing his first interaction with the Perkin-Elmer Corporation. This was the first operating infrared spectrometer in Australia, and there was a steady stream of requests for service and collaborative work from organic chemists both within the Division and outside it. Alan was particularly interested in understanding the mechanics of the technique and studying the structure of small molecules. Together with Arthur Pulford, an MSc student from the University of Sydney, he studied the vibrational spectrum of nitrosyl chloride (NOCl) and calculated its geometry and thermodynamic properties (15).

The Perkin-Elmer Model 12B, like all commercial infrared spectrometers at that time, used a direct current (DC) amplification system. To obtain good spectra with such systems was difficult because small changes in ambient temperature caused pronounced wandering of the baseline. Alan recalled (75):

The best spectra were obtained late at night or in the early hours of the morning. It was therefore a memorable occasion, which substantially improved my quality of life, when our Model 12B was converted to a Model 12C. This incorporated a fast thermocouple, which permitted the use of a modulated light source and a synchronous AC [alternating current] detection system and completely removed the problem of drifting base lines. Recording infrared spectra was transformed from a chore to a pleasure.

Alan soon realised that the resolution of the Perkin-Elmer (prism-based) spectrometer was quite inadequate for resolving the rotational lines of any but the lightest molecules, and even in these cases the full details of the spectrum were not revealed. To improve the resolution he devised a simple and elegant modification of the infrared prism monochromator in which radiation was passed two or more times through the same optical system (17). To do this he placed a pair of right-angle mirrors at the exit slit of the spectrometer to reflect the radiation back through the prism and, to isolate the desired multiple-pass beam from the other beams, he placed a rotating 'chopper' in front of the additional mirrors to modulate only the multiple-pass light and fed the output of the thermocouple detector to an amplifier tuned to the frequency of the chopper. An additional advantage of this modification was that the level of stray light, hitherto a major problem in infrared spectroscopy, was reduced dramatically.

Alan's 'double-pass monochromator' was patented in 1950, with coverage in Australia and eight overseas countries. Perkin-Elmer, the world's major manufacturer of infrared spectrometers, secured an exclusive licence and in 1953 began manufacturing a kit of 'Walsh Mirrors' to allow the conversion of their standard infrared spectrometer to a double-pass monochromator system. This experience with patenting and licensing and the interaction with Perkin-Elmer had significance for future events in that it involved Alan personally with the commercial aspects of scientific investigation.

Atomic emission spectroscopy

Shortly after his arrival at CSIR Alan also initiated a project to investigate the fundamental processes occurring in spectroscopic atomic-emission sources, and in particular to attempt to correlate the emission of radiation from the discharge with the electrical phenomena occurring in circuits containing an arc or a spark gap. He had the instrument workshop construct a source unit to the Walsh BNF design (8), which was capable of producing sparks that were electrically identical. Although such source units were by then well established in laboratories in the UK, the CSIR unit proved rather unreliable and was not sufficiently stable for the research Alan was proposing. John Shelton, who worked with Alan on this project, writes: [10]

It is interesting to speculate whether Walsh would have invented atomic absorption analysis if the source unit had been successful and allowed the planned research on inter-element effects to proceed. The frustration of the planned emission work stimulated him to think more and more about the tremendous number of sample atoms in the ground state, compared with the few, sensitive to minor changes in electrical and other conditions, in excited states.

Atomic absorption spectroscopy 1952–77

Establishment of the principle of the method

In an address to the Silver Anniversary Symposium on Great Moments in Analytical Chemistry at the Pittsburgh Conference in 1974, Alan recounted (68):

My initial interest in atomic absorption spectroscopy was a result of two interacting experiences; one of the spectrochemical analysis of metals over the period 1939-46; the other of molecular spectroscopy over the period from 1946-52. The interaction occurred in early 1952 when I began to wonder why, as in my experience, molecular spectra were usually obtained in absorption and atomic spectra in emission. The result of this musing was quite astonishing: there appeared to be no good reasons for neglecting [atomic] absorption spectra; on the contrary, they appeared to offer many vital advantages over atomic emission spectra as far as spectrochemical analysis was concerned. There was the attraction that absorption is, at least for atomic vapours produced thermally, virtually independent of the temperature of the atomic vapour and of excitation potential. In addition, atomic absorption methods offered the possibility of avoiding excitation interference, which at that time was thought by many to be responsible for some of the inter-element interference experienced in emission spectroscopy when using an electrical discharge as light source.

A number of journalists have written (and it is commonly believed) that Alan conceived the atomic absorption method of chemical analysis in 'a flash of inspiration' in early 1952. [11,13,14] However, a colleague of Alan's at the BNF during the war, Sidney Payne, writes: [15]

I think that he [Alan] envisaged atomic absorption far earlier than indicated by Karen Robinson.14 I clearly remember chatting to him whilst I was using a simple flame [emission] photometer and he commented upon the fact that only a small proportion of the atoms were excited by this technique and that it would be better if some way could be found to measure the much larger quantity of unexcited atoms. My reply was 'Well, why don't you go away and think about it'. History confirms that he did just that.

The following is a reconstruction of the events leading up to Alan's establishment of the principle of the atomic absorption method, based on articles by Alan (68, 82), a colleague John Shelton,10 and Andrew McKay,11 and a recorded interview with Alan: [12]

On a Sunday morning in March 1952 Walsh was working in the vegetable garden of his home in the Melbourne bayside suburb of Brighton when he suddenly had a revealing flash of thought, something that stemmed from his earlier work in related fields. He hurried inside, dirt still on his shoes, and phoned his colleague, John Shelton. 'Look John!' he exulted. 'We've been measuring the wrong bloody thing! We should be measuring absorption, not emission!' John reminded him: 'We've been through that before – you can't work out the concentration of a sample from the absorption because of the emitted light at the same wavelength'. Walsh replied: 'I've thought of that. We'll use a chopper on the source and a tuned amplifier, so the light emitted from the sample won't matter.'

Early next morning Walsh set up a simple experiment, using the element sodium. By morning tea he had a successful result. 'I was very excited and called in my colleague, Dr J.B. Willis, who at that time was working on infrared spectroscopy and later was to make important contributions to the atomic absorption method of chemical analysis. "Look", I shouted, "that's atomic absorption". His reply, which I have never let him forget, was "So what?" This was typical of the general reaction to my early work on atomic absorption'.

It would appear that the 'revealing flash of thought' on the Sunday morning in March 1952 alluded not to Alan's initial conception of the atomic absorption method of chemical analysis but rather to his sudden realisation, after a considerable period of mulling over the subject, that 'atomic absorption spectra appeared to offer many vital advantages over atomic emission spectra' (68) and that 'what we needed to do first was actually to measure absorption'. [16]

In his initial, simple demonstration of the atomic absorption method, Alan used a standard sodium vapour lamp operated from a 50 Hz mains supply and thus had an alternating output, so that it was not necessary to use a 'chopper'. The sodium D lines from this source were isolated, but not resolved from each other, by means of a simple direct-vision spectrometer and their combined intensity was measured by means of a photomultiplier tube, the output from which was recorded on a cathode ray oscillograph. Amplification of the signal was by the AC amplifier in the oscillograph. A simple air-coal gas flame was interposed between the sodium lamp and the entrance slit of the spectrometer. When a water solution containing a few milligrams of sodium chloride was sprayed into the air supply of the flame, the cathode spot on the oscillograph deflected to zero, thus establishing the principle of the atomic absorption method of chemical analysis.

In his chairman's address (71) to the Fifth International Conference on Atomic Spectroscopy in 1975, Alan conjectured why atomic absorption spectra had remained largely unexplored for almost one hundred years since Kirchhoff had first interpreted the Fraunhofer lines in the spectrum of the Sun as atomic absorption lines and used them to identify the elemental constituents of the solar atmosphere, and since Kirchhoff and Bunsen had founded qualititative spectrochemical analysis based on atomic spectra emitted by substances vaporized in a flame. Alan believed that one of the reasons atomic absorption spectra had been neglected for so long was a misunderstanding regarding the implications of Kirchhoff's law, which states that 'for radiation of the same wavelength at the same temperature the ratio of the emissive power to the absorptive power is the same for all bodies'. Alan pointed out that this law was often interpreted as 'good radiators are good absorbers and poor radiators are poor absorbers' (which holds only for radiation of a given wavelength and a given temperature) and that it had generally been assumed that methods based on emission spectra would be equally applicable to the same range of elements as those based on absorption spectra, which were generally much more difficult to measure, especially in a luminous flame. In early 1952 Alan began to realise this may not be the case and as a result of his two interacting experiences he began to wonder why it was that spectroscopists usually measured atomic spectra in emission and molecular spectra in absorption. As a result of considering this problem he concluded that atomic absorption spectra could prove much superior to conventional atomic emission spectra for many spectrochemical analyses.

Development of the atomic absorption method

Although his initial, simple demonstration of the atomic absorption method was performed using a sodium vapour lamp as the light source, Alan envisaged that the source would generally be a 'white-light' continuum source, such as a hydrogen or tungsten lamp, that would be capable of being used for the whole range of metals (68). However, when he attempted to determine copper and zinc using a continuum source and a high-resolution Hilger-Littrow spectrograph, he found the sensitivity to be disappointingly low (68). He realised that the resolution of the spectrograph was insufficient to accurately measure the profile of the extremely narrow absorption lines (about 0.003 nm) and that, even if a spectrograph or monochromator with much higher resolution became available, the energy transmitted over the small spectral bandpass would be much too low to provide adequate signal-to-noise ratios. Alan recounted (75):

I decided to abandon all attempts to produce a high-resolution dispersion system and [instead] to obtain high effective resolution by replacing the continuum light source by atomic spectral lamps which emitted lines which were considerably narrower than the absorption lines they measured. If the emission line is sufficiently narrow, the peak absorbance can be measured, and this can be correlated with atomic concentration. This concept of using a sharp-line source was the vital step in the development of atomic absorption spectrophotometers. It not only obviated the need for a high-resolution monochromator, it also gave atomic absorption methods one of their most attractive features. This is the ease and certainty with which one can isolate the required line, a characteristic that results from the fact that the line to be selected is usually one of the strongest emitted by the lamp, and it is only necessary to isolate this from other lines emitted by the lamp. This contrasts with emission methods, in which it is necessary to isolate the required line from all other lines emitted by the sample, many of which [from other elements] may be much more intense and at neighbouring wavelengths.

A CSIRO colleague, Alec Moodie, recalls that during the (North American) summer of 1952, when he was at Pennsylvania State University, he received an airletter from Alan with a sketch of his proposed atomic absorption scheme and a comment at the end, 'The sharp-line source doesn't yet exist!'

Apparently while reading Tolansky's book High Resolution Spectroscopy, [17] Alan learned that a hollow-cathode discharge can provide a source of very sharp spectral lines and quickly realised 'that could be a very robust and rugged source'. He also considered electrodeless discharge lamps of the type he and a colleague, Norman Ham, subsequently developed for Raman spectroscopy (32), but soon realised that hollow-cathode lamps offered a much wider coverage of elements. In January 1953 Alan, together with John Shelton and the glass instrument makers, George Jones and Frank Williams, set out to construct hollow-cathode lamps which used a closed gas-circulating system, of the type described by Tolansky, in which the rare gas was pumped continuously through traps to remove molecular impurities liberated by the discharge from the cathode and from the walls of the tube. This system involved a rack of elaborate gas handling and pumping gear and was not very convenient. During a visit to the USA in mid-1953, Alan reported back to John Shelton on the work of Dieke and Crosswhite, [18] who were using compact sealed-off hollow-cathode lamps in which the gaseous impurities were removed by a 'getter' of activated uranium. Alan and John Shelton then abandoned the gas circulating system and during August-September 1953 began the development of sealed-off hollow-cathode lamps for all the elements that could be determined by atomic absorption, using zirconium getters as suggested by Alan's section leader, Lloyd Rees. This was a daunting, exhaustive task, which took several years to accomplish. The first satisfactory sealed-off hollow-cathode lamps were constructed and tested during the period December 1953 to January 1954.

At this stage Alan had arrived at a satisfactory method for making the atomic absorption measurements, which was to become the generally accepted method, and at an experimental arrangement that had all the essential components of a modern commercial atomic absorption spectrophotometer: a sealed-off hollow-cathode lamp as source, a flame atomizer as absorber, and a 'chopper' and synchronously tuned amplifier. A critical factor in Alan's successful development of the atomic absorption method was his appreciation of the necessity for a modulated light source and a synchronously tuned amplifier system to discriminate between the emission of the source and that of the luminous flame absorber.

A provisional patent application was lodged on 17 November 1953. As soon as the final patent specification was filed, on 21 October 1954, [19] Alan submitted his landmark paper 'The application of atomic absorption spectra to chemical analysis' to Spectrochimica Acta (29). This was published in early 1955, virtually at the same time ** as a paper by C.T.J. Alkemade and J.M.W. Milatz, [20] who had arrived independently at the concept of analytical atomic absorption spectroscopy. The latter authors did not pursue their work further, possibly because they regarded the method merely as one for determining 'all metals that are usually to be determined in flame photometry'.

Alan's original paper on atomic absorption (29) is quite remarkable. In addition to proposing the atomic absorption method and discussing the various factors governing the relationship between atomic absorption and atomic concentration, he also proposed the details of the atomic absorption instrumentation that are essentially those in use today and he proposed or suggested several applications and developments of the atomic absorption method that were to keep teams of scientists, both at CSIRO and in other laboratories, occupied for the next twenty to thirty years. These included applications of atomic absorption to absolute chemical analysis, that is, analysis without the requirement of calibrating standards of known composition; applications to the determination of relative oscillator strengths of atomic resonance lines; applications to isotopic analysis; and the use of a furnace for vaporizing samples in atomic absorption spectroscopy.

Early exploitation of the atomic absorption method

During May to July 1953 Alan visited laboratories in England and the USA and discussed the possible commercial exploitation of atomic absorption with a number of instrument manufacturers. The only person to show any enthusiasm was Dr Alexander Menzies, a physicist and Director of Research for the leading British instrument manufacturer, Hilger and Watts Ltd, with whom Alan had previously had dealings through the manufacture of the BNF Spectrographic Source Unit. CSIRO arrived at a tentative exclusive licence agreement with Hilger and Watts, based on the provisional patent application.

The first public demonstration of a working atomic absorption instrument was in March 1954 at an exhibition of scientific instruments held by the Victorian Division of the (then British) Institute of Physics at the University of Melbourne. The exhibited instrument had all the essential components of a modern commercial atomic absorption instrument, including a sealed-off (copper) hollow-cathode lamp as source, a flame atomizer as absorber, and a 'chopper' and synchronously tuned amplifier to discriminate between the emission of the source and that of the luminous flame. There was also provision for a sodium vapour lamp and viewers were invited to 'dip their (salty) finger' into a beaker of water and this would register a deflection on the strip chart recorder. A photograph of the 'first atomic absorption spectrophotometer' is shown in Figure 2. Alan wrote (68):

The apparent complexity of the instrument was due largely to its being of the double-beam type, which in our early experiments, we regarded as essential because of the poor stability of many of our hollow-cathode lamps. The viewer was possibly further confused by the optical path being in opposite directions on the instrument and on the explanatory diagram. Whatever the reason, the instrument aroused no interest whatsoever during the three days it was on exhibition.

However, when Dr Menzies visited Melbourne shortly afterward to assess its performance, he was sufficiently impressed for his firm to decide to produce, under licence to CSIRO, the first commercial atomic absorption spectrophotometer.

In July 1954 CSIRO entered into an exclusive licence agreement with Hilger and Watts on terms which provided for a 5% royalty on each instrument sold. The exception to this exclusivity was for the case of a potential Australian manufacturer or if Hilger and Watts failed to produce satisfactory instrumentation, in which case the licence would be withdrawn.

In July 1954 Alan's colleague, John Shelton, left on a three-year secondment to the Australian Scientific Liaison Office in London, where it was agreed he would spend one-third of his time spreading the word about atomic absorption, visiting laboratories in England, and keeping in touch with the production of the atomic absorption equipment by Hilger and Watts. Barbara Russell was employed on a fixed-term appointment to replace John, who had expected to see a steady stream of papers from Alan and Barbara, showing the effectiveness of the atomic absorption method in hitherto difficult analyses. However, this did not happen. John writes:10 'Dr Wark had commented to Walsh that as the principle of the method had been established and was to be published, he should leave the "hack work" to others and get back to research'. Although Alan certainly did not regard the practical analytical work as 'hack work', he returned to his fundamental research on the assessment of the possibilities of absolute chemical analysis by atomic absorption and on the testing of the peak atomic absorption method, by comparing measurements on aqueous solutions with the known oscillator strengths of elements over a wide range of oscillator strength values and excitation wavelengths.

In early 1956 Alan sent John Shelton a draft of a paper that included the latest results to test the peak atomic absorption method. Dr Menzies, from Hilger and Watts, arranged for John to lecture on this work at a meeting of the Spectroscopy Group of the Institute of Physics in London in March 1956. The results aroused some interest and led to requests for the lecture to be repeated at the Chemical Inspectorate and Atomic Energy Laboratories at Woolwich and at the research laboratories of the British Aluminium Company. In a letter to Alan in March 1956, John reported: [21]

Apparently some people got the idea from your paper in Spectrochimica Acta that the method was a scientific curiosity rather than a practical analytical method. Several people have mentioned to me that they had not thought seriously about using atomic absorption until they had heard the lecture, so I feel pleased that some tangible result has come from the lecture.

John later wrote10 that he liked to think that this letter might have had some influence on the change in direction of the atomic absorption project that was soon to take place at CSIRO.

The Hilger and Watts experience

During the period Hilger and Watts held an exclusive license (1953-57), their interaction with Alan and CSIRO was sparse and progress was slowed by technical difficulties, including the development of satisfactory hollow-cathode lamps. A Hilger and Watts progress report for July 1956 stated that enquiries from potential users had 'not so far revealed any demand for a comprehensive instrument capable of dealing with many elements'. [22] It had therefore been decided to manufacture the atomic absorption equipment as an attachment to the existing Hilger and Watts Uvispek spectrophotometer. [23] However, there was no provision in the attachment for modulating the light from the source, probably because this would have necessitated major alterations to the Uvispek itself, which had a DC amplifier/detection system, whereas Alan's work had shown that a modulated light source and synchronously tuned amplifier were essential for discriminating between the emission of the source and that of the luminous flame absorber.

In early 1956 John Shelton learned that Dr Menzies was planning to present a paper on the Hilger and Watts unmodulated DC atomic absorption system to the Fifteenth Congress of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry in Lisbon later that year. This triggered an immediate reaction from Lloyd Rees and Alan. John was sent to the Lisbon conference with the intention of making it clear that the Hilger and Watts system was not a genuine atomic absorption instrument and that the full benefits of atomic absorption necessitated a modulated source and synchronously tuned amplifier/detector. The CSIRO paper included some results of the first tests of the peak atomic absorption method by comparing measurements on aqueous solutions with the known oscillator strengths of elements over a wide range of oscillator strength values and excitation wavelengths and also some results on limits of detection. However, the paper did not contain any real analytical results, and John Shelton recalls that it 'deservedly went down like a lead balloon'. In a letter to Alan in September 1956, reporting on the Congress, John wrote: [24]

Menzies followed immediately afterwards and is now really plugging atomic absorption. His results on brass have given him a really improved outlook…. He took a Uvispek with atomic absorption attachment to Lisbon (some of it by air which no doubt hurt his Scots soul) and gave demonstrations. As a toy it goes quite well, and it's to be hoped that more people will get into doing the actual analytical tests – i.e. on real problems – that, it seems to me, are needed most now. Hack work it may be, but until somebody does some appreciable amount of first class analytical work with the method then the analyst will be shy of it. And they won't be convinced with synthetic samples. They'll want actual samples and a statistical analysis of results.

The Lisbon paper appeared in the congress proceedings (30) and a full version was published in 1957 (31). Neither paper attracted any interest. Alan told how 'the most interest shown at that stage in the technique had been by school children at a working display of the instrument at a Chemex exhibition in Melbourne in May 1956'. [25]

In mid-1957 Alan was planning an extended visit to Europe and he arranged to visit Hilger and Watts in London with the specific intention of pointing out the deficiencies in their atomic absorption equipment and having them rectified. Alec Moodie recalls that Alan decided to concentrate on just two objectives: to convince Hilger and Watts that they should incorporate a modulated light source with synchronous detection and that they should use a stainless steel, rather than a brass, burner for the flame to avoid obtaining spurious zinc atomic absorption signals. When Alan visited Hilger and Watts, he discovered that the company was experiencing economic difficulties and that two of its leading optical designers, F. Twyman and A. Green, had both left the company. The meeting, comprising a board of executives, went on well into the evening, and Alan still had made no progress, later confessing he had 'failed on both objectives'. After the meeting, when leaving the building, it was dark and raining quite heavily, and the executives drove off, leaving Alan standing in the rain, despondent and looking for the nearest public transport. After a while a limousine pulled up, with Alan dripping with water and expecting to be offered a lift to a station. One of the executives in the back of the limousine wound down the window, called 'Hey Walsh, do you realise there is a tube station down the road?', wound up the window, and drove off. At a gathering soon after, Alan was apparently asked whether it was true that the Hilger and Watts atomic absorption instrument was useless. 'No', he said, 'It is not useless, it would make a great pie warmer'.

In June 1957, Lewis Lewis, who was now at CSIRO Head Office in Melbourne, visited Hilger and Watts at the request of the (then) Deputy Chairman of CSIRO, Sir Frederick White, to put it to them that their efforts so far had not done justice to the potential of the technology. Hilger and Watts agreed to their exclusive licence being revoked and replaced with a non-exclusive licence, provided no other licences were granted on more favourable terms.

Although Hilger and Watts recognised the limitations of the Uvispek attachment, they were obliged to accept that it would take several years to bring out an improved version. Under the circumstances it was decided to continue with the manufacture of the simple attachment until such time as they could offer a sophisticated integrated instrument. In February 1958, Hilger and Watts sold their first atomic absorption instrument, the Model H 909, and from 1961 sales continued at about 30 to 60 instruments a year for several years. [22]

The Techtron experience

In 1958, Eric Allan of the Ruakura Soil Research Station at Hamilton, New Zealand, who had assembled his own atomic absorption equipment following discussions with Alan, published the first analytical atomic absorption results, on the determination of trace amounts of magnesium in various agricultural materials. [26] Shortly afterwards, John David, of the CSIRO Division of Plant Industry in Canberra, using improvized equipment made with Alan's assistance, reported the determination of zinc and other elements in plant-digest solutions. [27] This was followed by analytical applications in clinical chemistry, by John Willis of the CSIRO Division of Chemical Physics, [28] and in the mineral processing industry, by Max Amos and co-workers from Conzinc Rio Tinto Australia. [29] These initial analytical results on the applications of atomic absorption stimulated a steady flow of requests to Alan, mostly from industry, for help in getting atomic absorption into wider use in Australia.

By 1958 there was still no sign of any instrument manufacturer prepared to produce the type of instrument Alan considered necessary. He then decided to embark on 'Operation Backyard' – the construction of equipment in Australia to apply the atomic absorption method – and gave instructions on how to put together a 'do-it-yourself' kit. [30] Fred Box of CSIRO designed and built the electronics, which included a broadband AC amplifier (commonly called the 'Working Man's Amplifier' or 'WMA') and a power supply to run the hollow-cathode lamps (34). George Jones and later John Sullivan developed and provided the expertise and 'hands-on' skills for producing the hollow-cathode lamps (36), while John Willis worked on the analytical methods for specific analyses. A simple commercially available monochromator, such as a small Zeiss quartz-prism monochromator, was recommended for isolating the atomic resonance lines.

Alan then had to find businesses that were prepared to co-operate in manufacturing components that were not available commercially. He recalled: [31]

The electronic part of our equipment was perfectly conventional electronics, nothing fancy, so we put out a tender for manufacturing six of our amplifiers and power packs, and a little firm called Techtron put in the lowest bid, so they got the business. They had a staff of five. Then I toured the backyards of Melbourne to find a little machine shop [Stuart R. Skinner] with a staff of eight. Then we tried various glass-blowing people for the lamps, and we found a little firm [Ransley Glass Instruments, later to become Atomic Spectral Lamps] that was willing to try. This was a pure glass-blowing firm, who knew nothing about vacuum technique or electrical discharge in gases, and they had no technical people on their staff at all.

By mid-1962, it was estimated that in excess of thirty of these 'do-it-yourself' kits had been supplied to Australian laboratories and about ten to other parts of the world, including New Zealand and South Africa. Alan recalled:25 'It was certainly enough for Karl Zeiss in Germany to wonder why so many of their monochromators were being sold in Australia'.

In July 1962 Alan and Lloyd Rees arranged a symposium on atomic absorption spectroscopy through the Victorian State Committee of CSIRO, of which John Shelton was secretary. Alan and colleagues John Willis, John Sullivan and John McNeill, and several users of atomic absorption equipment, made presentations. The meeting was attended by about eighty users, potential users and CSIRO staff, including the Chairman of CSIRO, Sir Frederick White, and Lewis Lewis. At the end of the symposium, Geoffrey Frew, Chairman of Techtron Appliances Pty Ltd, declared his intention to manufacture a 'complete' atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Alan recalled how all the main players were present at the same place at the same time and the whole deal was virtually signed and sealed that evening. This announcement by Frew was 'tantamount to announcing the impending birth of an Australian spectroscopic instrument industry' (82).

In early 1964, Techtron produced the first all-Australian atomic absorption instrument, the Model AA-3, which incorporated a 'Sirospec' grating monochromator designed by John McNeill [32] at CSIRO, diffraction gratings ruled on a ruling engine designed and constructed by Dai Davies and Geoffrey Stiff at CSIRO, and a 'WMA' AC amplifier unit. The AA-3 was exhibited publicly for the first time at the Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry in March 1964. A detailed account of the Techtron atomic absorption story has recently been written by Max Amos. [33]

At this stage Alan and his colleagues at CSIRO had established atomic absorption as a widely used analytical method in Australia, with a small flow-over into New Zealand and South Africa. Alan wrote (68):

While knowledge of the technique spread rapidly throughout Australian industry, there was one memorable exception. I recall the technical director of one of our biggest mining companies phoning CSIRO Head Office in the early 1960s and stating that he had just returned from South Africa where they were using a brand new instrument called the atomic absorption spectrophotometer. He wanted to know whether there was anyone in CSIRO who knew anything about it. Our man in Head Office said he didn't know but he would make enquiries.

In 1965 Max Amos from Sulphide Corporation and John Willis from CSIRO published a joint paper on the use of the high-temperature nitrous oxide-acetylene flame, [34] which extended the applicability of the atomic absorption method to more than sixty-five elements, including previously recalcitrant refractory elements such as aluminium, vanadium, zirconium and beryllium. From that stage onwards there was a dramatic increase in interest in the atomic absorption method and it rapidly gained wide acceptance. Alan recalled:30

The real winner in Australia, of course, was the mining boom and its timing was a real fluke. At the very time when we suddenly wanted tens of millions of analyses there was a technique waiting to do it. It's incredible that it happened like that. I don't think you could name a single mining company that didn't come here [to our laboratory].

In August 1965, Techtron Appliances Pty Ltd merged with Atomic Spectral Lamps Pty Ltd to form Techtron Pty Ltd, which manufactured the Model AA-4 with a synchronously tuned amplifier and a nitrous oxide-acelylene burner. This was followed by a period of rapid growth, with staff increasing to around 200 in 1966. Geoffrey Frew was obliged to move premises and decided to build a new factory. He tells25 how Alan accompanied him to the Oakleigh branch of the Commonwealth Trading Bank 'to give weight to our plans to build a modern factory for the manufacture of scientific instruments for export'. Frew was granted the loan and in March 1967 the company moved into the new factory, in Mulgrave on the outskirts of Melbourne. In October 1967, Techtron Pty Ltd was approached by Varian Associates, a successful instrument manufacturing company in Palo Alto, California, with an offer of acquisition, first a 50.5% holding and progressing to 100% over five years.33 The merger, to form Varian Techtron Pty Ltd, brought 'great strengths to the company in the way of manufacturing techniques, financial support, and perhaps most importantly, a world-wide distribution network for its products'. [35] This was followed by further rapid growth, with sales increasing at an average of 30% a year for the next six years and staff growing to 630 by 1972. The company continues today as Varian Australia Pty Ltd, and is the second largest manufacturer of atomic absorption equipment, exporting more than two-thirds of its output.

In 1970, Geoffrey Frew donated a substantial sum to the Australian Academy of Science 'in recognition of the successful commercial development of atomic absorption spectrochemical analysis, which had been originated by Dr A. Walsh of the CSIRO Division of Chemical Physics in 1954'. The Geoffrey Frew Fellowships enable distinguished scientists from abroad to travel to Australia to participate in the Australian Spectroscopy Conferences and to visit scientific centres around the country. Recipients have included Nobel Laureates A.L. Schawlow, G. Porter, G. Herzberg, C. Cohen-Tannoudji and J. Polanyi.

The Perkin-Elmer experience

From 1958 Alan made regular visits to the USA, conducting lecture tours and reporting recent atomic absorption results from Australia and New Zealand. The analytical spectroscopists and major American instrument manufacturers remained sceptical of the value of the method. After papers he had presented at the Louisiana State University Symposium on Analytical Chemistry in January 1958, Alan reported that one spectroscopist, Jim Robinson from Esso Research, Baton Rouge, was enthusiastic about the potential of the atomic absorption method. In mid-1958 Robinson obtained approval to start some atomic absorption work, using equipment based on a Perkin-Elmer Model 13 infrared-ultraviolet spectrometer. [36] During his 1958 visit, Alan also visited the Perkin-Elmer Corporation, with whom he had previously had dealings in regard to the double-pass monochromator. A Perkin-Elmer representative indicated to him that the company would be 'seriously interested in becoming a licensed manufacturer of atomic absorption equipment if it could be shown capable of determining calcium in blood serum' (82). Alan's colleague, Alec Moodie, recalls how Alan's laboratory 'soon became littered with hospital samples that were laden with pathogens and which had to be treated rather cautiously'.

Alan realised he needed the support of an experienced chemist and asked a colleague, John Willis, who had been working on infrared spectroscopy, if he could look into the calcium problem. The determination of calcium in blood serum turned out to be one of the most difficult first problems John could have tackled. After a while he decided to tackle magnesium in blood instead, which turned out to be relatively straight-forward at a time when the available (wet) methods were so difficult and laborious that such a determination was scarcely attempted. Shortly afterwards, John was able to extend the atomic absorption method to the rapid determination of sodium, potassium and calcium in body fluids. [37]

In March 1959 John Willis submitted an interim report of his work on calcium and magnesium in blood serum to Perkin-Elmer. Meanwhile, Perkin-Elmer had assembled a flame photometer-like atomic absorption instrument and had started some atomic absorption work of their own. [38] In November 1959 the company was granted a licence from CSIRO to manufacture atomic absorption equipment. In 1960, after extensive internal discussions, Perkin-Elmer established a group, headed by Walter Slavin, to develop an atomic absorption instrument. In 1961 the company began shipments of an improvized atomic absorption instrument, the Model 214, using components that had been developed earlier for the Model 13 infrared-ultraviolet spectrometer.

In May 1961 Walter Slavin and a colleague, Herbert Kahn, submitted a detailed report [39] to Perkin-Elmer management that included the design of a completely new atomic absorption instrument, the Model 303. The report met with 'massive management resistance', especially in the marketing department.38 In early 1962 it was clear that management would block, or at least continue to delay, the start of the Model 303. So Walter Slavin phoned Alan, who agreed to go to Perkin-Elmer in Norwalk, Connecticut to meet with senior management. Alan recounted:3

After I had described the widespread use of atomic absorption methods in Australia the chairman of the meeting, Chester Nimitz Jr *** (a former submarine commander and son of Chester Nimitz, who commanded the US Pacific Fleet in World War 2) asked rather tersely: 'If this goddamn technique is as good as you say it is, why isn't it being used right here in United States of America?' My reply, which my friends at Perkin-Elmer love to recall, was 'You'll have to face up to it, Chester, the United States is just an underdeveloped country'.

Alan tells how each Christmas thereafter he and his wife Audrey received a card from Chester Nimitz, which invariably included the message: 'Glad to report we are developing nicely!'

In March 1962 Perkin-Elmer began building the Model 303. It was released on the market in April 1963, about the same time as the Techtron AA-2, which used an imported monochromator. By 1965 the Model 303 had already overtaken infrared spectroscopy as Perkin-Elmer's largest product line and had captured the bulk of the atomic absorption market. This prompted Alan to remark (71):

Indeed, whereas previously it [atomic absorption] had been regarded by some reactionaries as the greatest confidence trick since a Sydney taxi-driver sold the Harbour Bridge to an American millionaire, it was now being hailed as the greatest invention since the bed! I presume the truth lies somewhere between these two extremes.

In 1966 Alan's Chief, Lloyd Rees, felt that as result of Perkin-Elmer's highly successful atomic absorption operations the company ought to consider making a serious investment in the Australian scientific instrument business. Walter Slavin and Alan arranged for Lloyd Rees to meet the head of the Perkin-Elmer instrument business in Norwalk. Walter Slavin tells how Alan and he waited outside the office for the whole afternoon for the deal to be negotiated and were then advised that it was felt that it would be monopolistic for Perkin-Elmer to buy Techtron. The decision was that Perkin-Elmer would provide commercial support to Australian science by setting up a factory to manufacture a helium quadrupole mass-spectrometer leak detector developed by Don Swingler at the CSIRO Division of Chemical Physics. Alan and Walter had been seeking support for the commercialization of some of the atomic absorption research originating in Alan's laboratory, such as the resonance detector (46), but this had been rejected because it would have meant Perkin-Elmer going into competition with Techtron 'on their own turf'.

In 1967 Perkin-Elmer purchased land immediately adjacent to the site of the new Techtron factory in Mulgrave, Melbourne, to build a factory to manufacture the helium leak detector. Geoffrey Frew, the Chairman of Techtron, recalled:25 'Although we knew they had no licence to manufacture atomic absorption instruments in Australia, I was very annoyed by the speculations that followed the announcement of their land purchase and setting up business next door'. At the opening of the Perkin-Elmer factory in October 1967, Perkin-Elmer's founder and President, Richard Perkin, was 'very optimistic and predicted that his company would expand steadily in Australia and, as well as making the helium leak detector, would tender for government contracts'.25

Coincidentally, in October 1967 Techtron was approached with the offer of acquisition by Varian Associates. After just six weeks of operation Perkin-Elmer surprisingly closed its plant in Melbourne and in May 1968 the building was purchased by Varian Techtron Pty Ltd as part of a massive expansion of its operations.

Further atomic absorption and related work

During the 1960s and 1970s Alan's research was directed toward the development of novel instruments and techniques to simplify and improve atomic absorption equipment. He was especially keen to develop instruments of the simplest possible design for use in industrial environments where the samples were actually being taken.

In particular, Alan felt it should be possible to replace the monochromator, which was rather fragile, bulky and expensive, with a simpler and more rugged 'non-dispersive' device. In 1965 he and John Sullivan developed the resonance detector (46, 49, 52, 56), which consisted of a vapour cell of the appropriate element to selectively absorb the resonance lines from the source and a photomultiplier to detect the atomic fluorescence emitted by the vapour cell. Alan was known to remark 'Even a chemist can't put it out of alignment'. Such resonance detectors were subsequently tested in an industrial environment for the determination of calcium and magnesium in brown coal by the State Electricity Commission of Victoria and for the determination of nickel and zinc in ore samples. [40] Later, Alan and a colleague, Peter Larkins, developed the separated (nitrogen-sheathed) flame as a versatile resonance detector for the isolation of atomic resonance lines (70, 72).

The resonance detector was followed by the development of the ingenious technique of 'selective modulation' for isolating atomic resonance lines (48, 56, 59). Radiation from a sharp-line source is passed through a pulsating vapour of absorbing atoms and the resonance lines are detected using a synchronous amplifier tuned to the frequency of modulation of the atomic vapour. Alan predicted that the selective modulation technique should also lead to appreciable sharpening of the profile of the atomic resonance line, giving rise to 'sub-Doppler' linewidths. This was subsequently demonstrated experimentally, [41] culminating in Alan proudly claiming a bottle of red wine as a result of a long-standing wager with me.

Alan realised that light intensities higher than those available from standard hollow-cathode lamps would be required in applications involving resonance detectors or atomic fluorescence detection. In 1965 he and John Sullivan developed the 'high-intensity' hollow-cathode lamp (45), which employs two discharges, a hollow-cathode discharge to generate an atomic vapour by cathodic sputtering and a high electron-current discharge, isolated from the first, to excite the atoms. The 'Sullivan-Walsh' high-intensity lamp allows the intensity of the resonance lines to be increased up to a hundred-fold without any increase in atom density and hence linewidth. It also has the advantage that most of the light output is usually concentrated in the strongest resonance line. Such lamps are manufactured by Varian Australia Pty Ltd and by the Perkin-Elmer Corporation. A modified version, based on that developed in Alan's laboratory by Martin Lowe, [42] is manufactured by Photron Pty Ltd in Melbourne.

Alan's original paper (29) also envisaged the possibility of using atomic absorption as a simple method of isotopic analysis. By employing a sharp-line source containing only one isotope of an element, analyses can be performed for that isotope if the 'isotope shift' of the resonance line is larger than or comparable with the width of the line. Successful isotopic analyses have since been realised for elements having relatively large isotope shifts, such as lithium, boron (which was investigated in Alan's laboratory by Hannaford and Lowe [43]), lead, mercury and uranium.

In his landmark paper (29) Alan proposed that the atomic absorption method should offer the possibility of absolute chemical analysis, that is, analysis without the need for standard samples of known composition. His next two papers (30, 31) went some of the way towards demonstrating absolute analysis, but Alan realised the inadequacy of the flame absorber, in which the atomization was usually far from complete. Professor Boris L'vov in Leningrad accepted the challenge and later established graphite-furnace atomic absorption spectroscopy, involving the complete vaporization of samples. L'vov, in collaboration with Walter Slavin and colleagues at Perkin-Elmer, has now successfully realised absolute atomic absorption analysis for a wide range of elements. [44] In addition, use of the graphite furnace as an atomizer has increased the sensitivity of atomic absorption analysis by one to two orders of magnitude.

From the time of his original atomic absorption paper (29), Alan was conscious of the limitations of flame methods of atomization, sometimes referring to the flame as 'a hotbed of chemical reactions'. The limitations include incomplete atomization of most elements from their compounds, causing low sensitivity and possible chemical interferences; the necessity of an oxidant, rendering the vacuum ultraviolet (and hence elements like carbon, sulphur and phosphorus) inaccessible; and the need for prior dissolution of the sample. In addition, the presence of various molecular species can introduce background absorption signals, and the need for an explosive gas such as acetylene is undesirable in certain locations such as hospitals.

In a paper published in 1959, Alan and Barbara Russell reported (33) that a hollow-cathode discharge can provide a simple and convenient means of generating an atomic vapour of essentially any solid element. Energetic rare-gas ions formed in the hollow-cathode discharge bombard the surface of the cathode and eject atoms to produce an atomic vapour. Thus this process of cathodic sputtering provides a method in which metals and alloys can be atomized directly without prior dissolution. Furthermore, the method should, in principle, not be subject to any of the above limitations of the flame. In June 1967 Alan employed me to look further into the cathodic sputtering method of atomization. In 1973, together with David Gough, we reported the first results, on the determination of a range of elements in solid samples of iron-base alloys (63, 64). Alan wrote (68):

I would not expect the scientific instrument manufacturers to be greatly interested in the simple sputtering cell… I would, however, like to think that some of them are musing on possible ways of embellishment to ensure that any commercial version will have an impressive price tag.

Indeed, it took more than another decade before an atomic absorption sputtering system was manufactured, by Analyte Corporation, USA, in 1988.

In his final Keynote Address, [45] to the Pittsburgh Conference in 1990, Alan stated that his own work on atomic absorption 'originated in a laboratory devoted primarily to basic, curiosity-oriented research and finished in applied research of tremendous economic value'. He went on to say that one of his colleagues had 'taken the return journey'. I had worked with Alan on attempts to develop methods of atomization based on cathodic sputtering that were largely unsuccessful for routine analysis. However, my colleagues and I then showed that the atomic vapours produced by cathodic sputtering can provide a surprisingly good environment for conducting a variety of fundamental laser spectroscopic experiments. These included time-resolved fluorescence measurements of atomic lifetimes and their application to the determination of solar elemental abundances from the Fraunhofer absorption lines; coherence spectroscopy including quantum beats in excited or ground atomic states; and high-resolution Doppler-free laser saturation spectroscopy. Thus cathodic sputtering has permitted high-resolution and time-resolved laser spectroscopic techniques to be readily extended to a very wide range of atomic systems (81). Alan seemed particularly excited by this work, not only because of its potential as a universal method for determining atomic lifetimes, and hence absolute oscillator strengths, for atomic absorption spectroscopy, but also because the Fraunhofer absorption lines are 'just atomic absorption'. Alan concluded his Pittsburgh address with 'my experiences over forty years with CSIRO have convinced me that the doors between fundamental and applied research should remain open'.

Significance and benefits of atomic absorption

Atomic absorption has provided a quick, easy, accurate and highly sensitive means of determining the concentrations of over sixty-five of the elements. The method has found important application world-wide in areas as diverse as medicine, agriculture, mineral exploration, metallurgy, food analysis, biochemistry and environmental monitoring. It has been described as 'the most significant advance in chemical analysis' in the twentieth century. [46]

By the time the original patents of atomic absorption had expired around 1969, twenty licences had been issued, and there were also several manufacturers in countries such as Japan in which patents had not been sought. During 1963-67 sales of atomic absorption instruments experienced exponential-like growth. By 1969 there were more than 10,000 atomic absorption spectrophotometers in use in hospitals, factories and laboratories around the world, and by 1977 this number had grown to around 40,000. Alan tells how a slight decrease in the rate of world sales around 1968 came as a relief to his colleague, John Willis, who 'feared that if sales continued to increase at the same rate as 1963-68, then by the turn of the century the whole surface of the Earth would be covered by atomic absorption spectrophotometers'. [47] This did not come about!

The current world market for atomic absorption instruments is around $A300 million a year. Varian Australia Pty Ltd in Melbourne, with a staff of around 400 and a similar number outside the company engaged in contract work, has the second largest share of the market, after the Perkin-Elmer Corporation, while GBC Scientific Equipment Pty Ltd in Melbourne, with a staff of around 180, is the third largest. In addition, Photron Pty Ltd in Melbourne manufactures hollow-cathode lamps and high-intensity hollow-cathode lamps for atomic absorption. The commercialization of the atomic absorption spectrophotometer essentially led to the birth of the scientific instrument industry in Australia.

In 1968, A.W. Brown, a scientist with postgraduate qualifications in business administration, was recruited by John Shelton at CSIRO Head Office to conduct a detailed cost-benefit analysis of the atomic absorption project. This study [48] conservatively assessed the value of the net benefits to the Australian economy at around $22 million (in 1968 Australian dollars), compared with $1.3 million originally spent on the research. (Later estimates gave the accumulated benefit to Australia by the year 1977 as in excess of $200 million, including overseas royalties, the setting up of new industry, and the productivity increases in a wide range of enterprises.) Much to the surprise of many, Brown found that the major benefits to the economy were not through the manufacture of atomic absorption equipment in Australia but rather through benefits to the user, that is, benefits associated with productivity gains, especially the ability to perform large numbers of assays very rapidly and with a high order of accuracy. This component far outweighed the benefits of manufacture. Royalty income was miniscule by comparison.

Mr Barry Jones, a former Minister for Science in the Australian Government, recently remarked: [50] 'I don't know there is a single significant laboratory anywhere in the world that doesn't have an atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The tragedy is, of course, as with so many other of our ideas with something that really began here, licensing rights were sold off to other countries and the result is that only a small proportion of the actual machines were manufactured in Australia after a while.' This is a popularly held view among journalists, politicians and academics. During the period 1954 to 1962, Australia did not have the scientific instrument manufacturing capability to handle the massive expansion that resulted first from the Australian mineral boom of the 1960s and later from the 'environmental boom' and the enormous demand from around the world. There was no company in Australia geared up to cope with such a demand. Moreover, the cost-benefit analysis of Brown showed that the major benefits to Australia's economy lay not in royalties or in manufacture of the instrument but through benefits to the user.

Alan regarded the benefits of atomic absorption to humanity – for example, through its use in hospitals throughout the world – as having 'given him more satisfaction than all the dollars it has earned'. One of his favourite stories [11], [49] concerned a five-year-old boy, who in 1968 had suffered extensive burns while playing with a can of petrol and was undergoing treatment at the Children's Medical Research Foundation in Sydney. For weeks doctors fought to save his life, and finally violent convulsions started for no apparent reason and death appeared imminent. Tests with an atomic absorption spectrophotometer established that the boy had suffered a severe loss of magnesium as a result of the burns. Doctors replaced the lost magnesium, the convulsions ceased, and the boy eventually recovered. A photograph of the boy had a prominent place in Alan's office for the remainder of his time at CSIRO.

When asked about the appropriateness of the development of atomic absorption in Australia, Alan replied: [16]

Well, of course it was fortunate. We say it was good planning! I think it's a good example of how uncommitted research can finally be more significant than directly applied work. If somebody had said in 1950 that there was going to be a mineral boom in ten years' time which would need new methods of analysis, I'm sure we would have tried to elaborate existing methods, rather than follow a completely new line.

In his final scientific paper (83), written in 1991, Alan concluded:

There are two important lessons to be learned from this account of the development of atomic absorption methods and the difficulties encountered in convincing analysts and scientific instrument manufacturers of their potential.

First, it should be noted that this work originated in a laboratory where scientists were encouraged to study a subject at a basic level and were not expected to have a specific goal for every set of investigations. I think this is a tremendously important point. Increasingly we find young scientists being channelled into increasingly narrow areas of activities aimed only at targets with good prospects of success. They are being given less and less room to manoeuvre. Their work is being largely confined to answering questions, ignoring the many lessons that have shown that much successful research has its origin in asking the right question.

The second lesson is that it is a mistake for the scientist or the inventor to try to sell an invention by scientific and technical arguments rather than by a demonstration of how well it can fulfill the functions it claims to fulfill. The licensee is not interested in how clever the invention is; he or she merely wants to know what benefits the invention affords the designer, manufacturer, and user of the equipment in which it is incorporated.

Retirement 1977–98

Retirement from CSIRO

In November 1976 Alan gave notice of his intention to retire from CSIRO on 5 January 1977, just after his sixtieth birthday and after thirty years of service and fifteen years as Assistant Chief of the Division of Chemical Physics. He had for many years said 'I will have run out of new ideas by the age of sixty and I should make way for a younger person'.

Two weeks after giving notice, Alan received a telex:

I have pleasure in informing you that Her Majesty The Queen has been graciously pleased to approve the recommendation that you be awarded a Royal Medal in recognition of your distinguished contributions to emission and infrared spectroscopy and your origination of the atomic absorption method of quantitative analysis.

Alan had the distinction of being only the fourth Australian scientist to have been awarded a Royal Medal, after Ferdinand von Mueller in 1888 and Nobel Laureates Sir Macfarlane Burnet and Sir John Eccles. In the Silver Jubilee Queen's Birthday Honours List in June 1977, Alan was created a Knight Bachelor for 'his distinguished service to science'. Alan's many other honours included election to Fellowship of the Royal Society of London in 1969 and Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1969, being only the second Australian scientist (after Burnet) on whom the latter honour had been bestowed.

On the occasion of Alan's retirement, his Chief of Division, Dr Lloyd Rees, paid the following tribute:51

Alan Walsh did not only invent an analytical instrument called the atomic absorption spectrophotometer – he created a field of scientific work in atomic absorption spectroscopy and initiated and cultivated its application to elemental chemical analysis in areas as disparate as agriculture and chemical industry, and medicine and the mining and metallurgical industries. His contribution to science, industry and human welfare has been enormous. In spite of his great distinction Alan Walsh is a human being – he enjoys life and has never found it necessary to develop eccentricities or affectations.

Alan seemed overwhelmed by all the fuss being made of his retirement, and at a CSIRO dinner in his honour remarked 'I've been to so many farewell dinners recently that I'm beginning to acquire a taste for wine'.

Alan was intending to become a private consultant to industry and sadly had to vacate his office and laboratory at the CSIRO Division of Chemical Physics. He had also accepted an honorary fellowship at Monash University, adjacent to CSIRO, which had awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1970. But first he was going to take a long holiday 'to recharge my batteries and to have some time to renovate the house, do some gardening, swim a little, and improve my golf swing'. After a weekend's golf Alan was known to comment 'golf defies all theory' and 'it is a relief to get back to research where the problems were more amenable to rational analysis'.

Six years later, in June 1982, Alan was elated to learn that he had been invited back to CSIRO as a Senior Research Fellow. In December 1994 the Spectroscopy Wing at the CSIRO Division of Chemical Physics was named the 'Alan Walsh Spectroscopy Laboratory'.

The Perkin-Elmer consultancy

After his visit in 1962, Alan began to visit Perkin-Elmer in Norwalk on a regular basis and participated in some major commercial decisions. These included the decisions for Perkin-Elmer to construct their own hollow-cathode lamps, to manufacture a Zeeman attachment to their atomic absorption equipment to correct for background absorption, and to manufacture the inductively coupled plasma source. [38]

About a year after his retirement from CSIRO, Alan became a formal consultant to Perkin-Elmer. During 1978-1982 he and his wife, Audrey, spent several Australian winters beside the Bodensee near Überlingen, Germany, where Alan made frequent visits to the Perkin-Elmer plant, the 'Bodensee-werk'. At that time the chief research interest there was the hydride generation technique for atomic absorption, and Alan suggested that it might be very interesting to combine the hydride work with a 'solar-blind' photomultiplier to provide a simple non-dispersive atomic fluorescence spectrometer for the determination of arsenic and selenium. Alan and Walter Slavin convinced the Bodenseewerk engineers to build a prototype and it worked nicely (79). However, Perkin-Elmer marketing decided the market was too small. Some years later the Chinese built a highly successful hydride instrument for a large market. [38]

In the early 1980s Alan initiated a project to investigate coherent forward scattering as a possible method of spectrochemical analysis (80). Coherent forward scattering had been pioneered in Oxford as a spectroscopic technique in the mid-1960s by George Series, [52] of whom Alan had long been an admirer. The technique relies on the fact that the light emitted from atoms in the forward direction is phase-coherent and so the intensity is proportional to the square of the number of atoms, thus offering the possibility of higher sensitivity than atomic absorption. The method has the additional advantage that any background radiation scattered from 'particles' in the atomic vapour is not detected. With Alan's help, Perkin-Elmer conducted an extensive development programme on coherent forward scattering and built a system derived from their Zeeman background correction instrument. The project was abandoned when it could not be proved to be commercially attractive.

The scientist and the man

It is instructive to consider some of the characteristics that may have contributed to Alan's success as a scientist and to his successful development and commercialization of the atomic absorption method of chemical analysis.

First and foremost, his work was characterized by a remarkable simplicity and elegance, a hallmark of many great scientists. Alan himself wrote (83):

My general attitude to research was greatly influenced by the fact that I studied physics at Manchester University. The Physics Department had an illustrious record of major achievements, including Rutherford's development of the nuclear theory of the atom, Bohr's first theory of the origin of atomic spectra, Moseley's law of X-ray spectra, and [Lawrence] Bragg's work on the determination of crystal structures by X-ray crystallography. A feature of all these advances was [that] whilst they were profound they were all very simple. I think by the time I had finished my course at Manchester I took it for granted that the very essence of a significant contribution to physics was a fundamental simplicity.

Sometimes Alan's ideas and schemes were so deceptively simple that they were not always appreciated at first, but as the years went by, they frequently had a habit of becoming important.

Alan was blessed with an extraordinarily creative and fertile mind, forever generating new ideas. One of his colleagues, Peter Larkins, tells [53] how on one occasion a colleague was attempting to improve the performance of a sputtering system as an atomizer for atomic absorption. Alan made a suggestion which it was estimated would improve the absorption sensitivity by a factor of about two. He came back a while later with another suggestion to give another factor of two. By lunchtime it was estimated he had been back fifteen times! He also displayed great zest and enthusiasm in whatever he tackled, and this seemed to infect those around him. He was a great inspiration to work with. John Willis tells [54] how in the early days he had been working on the Littrow spectrograph with a modification which Alan and he had hoped would vastly improve its performance. Alan came into the laboratory and asked John how he was getting on. John replied with an air of disappointment that he couldn't do much better than a factor of two. 'Don't despise a factor two, John', he said. 'Three factors of two make a factor of ten!'

Alan had a rare combination of vivid imagination and experimental practicality. He was a wonderfully intuitive scientist, with an enormous grasp of the numerical, carrying numbers and orders of magnitude in his head. He was known to say [55] 'Kelvin could take no pleasure in an equation unless he could feel its weight'. He could make things work so well that some people felt he could 'work magic'. He never pretended to have any unreal powers; he always had his feet firmly on the ground. On one occasion his Chief, Lloyd Rees, wanted to construct a reflecting infrared microscope, which was to be used by John Willis to study the infrared spectra of small protein samples. It was clear to Alan that the numerical aperture of the infrared spectrometer was ill-matched to the microscope. The instrument workshop launched into building the microscope, and the carpenters made a magnificent timber box lined with felt. No detectable signal came through. Alan was heard to say [54] 'Lloyd seems to hold me personally responsible for the laws of optics being what they are'.

Alan grew up in a small family business where he acquired an acute business sense. He once remarked: [51] 'My family was steeped in the traditions of the Lancashire textile industry. I was brought up in the real world – where one went out to make a quid'. Unlike many scientists of his generation, he enjoyed mixing with the captains of industry and spoke their language. It was fascinating to observe him in action at a meeting or in some business negotiation. He would rarely take the lead, preferring to listen politely and assimilate what others had to say. At the end of the meeting he would invariably be asked his opinion, and then would eloquently deliver a definitive statement, which would often end the discussion. He had little time for 'virtuoso performances'. He also had the tenacity and perseverance to see a long and difficult project or business negotiation through to completion. A colleague once said of him:13 'If he had a problem he would gnaw away at the damn thing until it surrendered'.

Many people expected a distinguished scientist like Alan to be a stereotype academic, totally devoted and consumed in his research and with little time for the ‘ordinary' things in life. His Chief, Lloyd Rees, once wrote: [56]

Throughout his life he [Alan] has been interested in sport, football, cricket, squash and latterly golf. His other sport was drinking red wine. At one stage of his career he indulged in all-year-round early morning swimming in Port Phillip Bay, which, during the winter months, can be sustained by the hardiest individuals only. He has, however, recovered from this aberration and now spends much of his spare time cultivating camellias.

Alan was an avid follower of cricket, especially English cricket, and a great admirer of the inimitable English cricket commentator John Arlott. Alec Moodie recalls how on one occasion Alan proudly showed him a newspaper clipping about his younger brother, Tom, who had opened the batting for the village cricket team in Hoddlesden and on this occasion 'carried his bat' through the innings but failed to 'open his account'. Alan described his brother as 'always cautious, typical of a Lancashire batsman'.

Alan had a remarkable ability to mix with people from all walks of life. His colleague, John Willis, states: 'I have never met anyone who was so immediately at home with people, whether it was politicians, businessmen, distinguished scientists, the younger members of the Division, the tradesmen, or the canteen ladies'. I myself can hardly recall an instance when Alan tried to put another person down or any scientific paper or lecture where he criticized the work of others. It was as though life were too short not to spend it being constructive at all times. He was a wonderful mentor and role model for any young scientist to emulate, forever striving for excellence and providing encouragement and words of wisdom.

Finally, Alan had a wonderful English North Country humour, which was legendary world-wide. During discussions or during gloomier moments in the laboratory he could defuse a situation by coming out with a characteristic 'one-liner' followed by loud, raucous laughter that echoed the length of the passage. Some of his sayings and traditions still live on in the Alan Walsh Spectroscopy Laboratory.

Alan Trumble, a close friend and neighbour of Audrey and Alan, commented, in a eulogy to Alan:57

Alan loved life and people, always showing a very genuine interest in others' activities and concerns for their problems. He was a devoted family man and extremely proud of his boys, Tom and David, absolutely delighted with his daughters-in-law, a doting grandfather to Chevaun, Miriam, Emily and Jack. You could not be close to the Walsh family without appreciating the wonderful affection of a husband for a wife.

Epilogue

In Alan's final years his memory sadly began to fade but he still retained his mischievous sense of humour and good nature to the end. In this memoir we have attempted to capture some of that humour for posterity.

Alan died in Melbourne on 3 August 1998, aged 81, survived by his widow, Audrey, and sons, Tom and David, and their families.

Honours and distinctions

Medals and awards

• 1966: Britannica Australia Award
• 1969: Talanta Gold Medal
• 1969: Royal Society of Victoria Research Medal
• 1972: Maurice Hasler Award in Spectroscopy, US Society of Applied Spectroscopy
• 1975: Kronland Medal, Czechoslavak Spectroscopic Society
• 1975: James Cook Medal, Royal Society of New South Wales
• 1976: Torbern Bergman Medal, Swedish Chemical Society
• 1976: Royal Medal, Royal Society of London
• 1977: Knight Bachelor
• 1978: John Scott Award, City of Philadelphia, USA
• 1980: Matthew Flinders Lecture and Medal, Australian Academy of Science
• 1982: Robert Boyle Medal, Royal Society of Chemistry (Inaugural Award);
• 1982: K.L. Sutherland Memorial Medal, Australian Academy of Technological Sciences (Inaugural Award)
• 1991: Colloquium Spectroscopicum Internationale Award for Major Scientific Contributions to Analytical Spectroscopy (Inaugural Award)

Academic affiliations

• 1958: Fellow, Australian Academy of Science
• 1969: Foreign Member, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
• 1969: Fellow, Royal Society of London
• 1969: Honorary Member, Society of Analytical Chemistry, Great Britain
• 1972: Honorary Fellow, Chemical Society, Great Britain
• 1975: Honorary Fellow, Royal Society of New Zealand
• 1979: Honorary Fellow, Australian Institute of Physics
• 1980: Honorary Fellow, Royal Society of Chemistry, Great Britain
• 1981: Honorary Member, Japan Society for Analytical Chemistry
• 1982: Fellow, Australian Academy of Technological Sciences

Honorary degrees

• 1970: Doctor of Science, Monash University, Australia
• 1986: Doctor of Science, University of Manchester, UK

Special journal issues, Spectrochimica Acta

• 1980: Commemoration of 25th anniversary of Alan Walsh's landmark paper on atomic absorption [58]
• 1999: Alan Walsh Memorial Issue [59]

About this memoir

This memoir was originally published in Historical Records of Australian Science, vol. 13(2), 2000. It was also published in Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society of London, 2000. It was written by Peter Hannaford, Alan Walsh Spectroscopy Laboratory, CSIRO Manufacturing Science and Technology, Clayton, Victoria 3169.

Acknowledgements

I express my deep gratitude to Sir Alan Walsh for his inspiration, encouragement and friendship over a period extending more than thirty years. I am especially indebted to Lady Walsh for providing background material and numerous anecdotes about Alan; to Alan's cousin, Mrs Kathleen Hoyle, for generously providing the material on Alan's early life in Hoddlesden; to Professor Alec Moodie for providing many of the stories and anecdotes concerning Alan's life at CSIRO; to Mr John Shelton for providing background material on Alan's development of the atomic absorption method; to Mr Walter Slavin for providing material about Alan's association with Perkin-Elmer; and to Dr John Willis for providing numerous sources of information, including the background on Alan's work in molecular spectroscopy, and for preparing the bibliography.

I am especially grateful to Professor Sandy Mathieson, John Shelton, Walter Slavin and John Willis for constructive comments on the manuscript. I also gratefully acknowledge contributions from Mr Max Amos, Mr Peter Beale, Mr David Gough, Dr Norman Ham, Mr Bill Ramsden, Professor Norman Sheppard, Mr John Sullivan, Mr Rodney Teakle and Dr Harold Whitfield. Finally, I wish to thank my colleagues from the Alan Walsh Spectroscopy Laboratory at CSIRO and my wife Kay for permitting me three months of pleasure to indulge in writing this biographical memoir.

The photograph of Alan Walsh was taken in June 1979 by the CSIRO Division of Chemical Physics.

References

1. 'Alan Walsh. The making of a scientific breakthrough', Double Helix News (CSIRO), 11 (1988), 10.
2. A. Walsh, 'Why did you become a scientist?', written in 1993 for The Quantum Book of How and Why, later published as Why? Scientists Answer Children's Questions (Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 1998) eds P. Long and J. Phemister. Walsh's article never appeared in the final version of the book (A. Walsh, personal papers). Walsh's personal papers, of which I was able to make extensive use, will be deposited in the Basser Library, Australian Academy of Science, Canberra.
3. L. Parker, 'Scientist viewpoint', Science Teachers Journal, 34(3) (1988), 81-86.
4. P.T. Beale, letter to J.B. Willis, 28 November 1998 (A. Walsh, personal papers).
5. W. Ramsden, letter to J.B. Willis, 24 November 1998 (A. Walsh, personal papers).
6. 'Don't judge spook by her cover', The Times; reprinted in The Australian, 13 September 1999.
7. W. Ramsden, personal communication, January 2000.
8. J.B. Willis, 'Spectroscopic research in the CSIRO Division of Chemical Physics 1944-1986', Hist. Rec. Aust. Sci., 8 (1991), 151-182.
9. I.W. Wark, 'The CSIRO Division of Industrial Chemistry 1940-1952', Rec. Aust. Acad. Sci., 4 (1979), 7-41.
10. J.P. Shelton, 'Atomic absorption spectroscopy – a personal recollection, 1947-1958', Spectrochim. Acta B, 54 (1999), 1961-1966.
11. A. McKay, 'The absorbing atom', in Surprise and Enterprise: Fifty Years of Science for Australia (CSIRO, 1976), pp. 6-7. Based on an earlier article by J.R. Price, Australia Now, 1 (1971), 12-13.
12. 'Alan Walsh and the atomic absorption spectrophotometer', CSIRO Scifile, 34 (1988), 4.
13. B. Beale, 'Eureka! they cry', Sydney Morning Herald, 5 April 1986.
14. K. Robinson, 'Sir Alan Walsh 1916-98', Chemistry in Britain, 35(1) (1999), 59; Coresearch, No. 376 (1998), p. 4.
15. S.J. Payne, 'Remembering Alan Walsh', Chemistry in Britain, 35(3) (1999), 23.
16. H.A. Willis, 'Sir Alan Walsh, the inventor of atomic absorption spectrometry', ESN Interviews, European Spectroscopy News, 24 (1979), 18-23.
17. S. Tolansky, High Resolution Spectroscopy, Methuen, London, 1947.
18. G. Dieke and H.M. Crosswhite, 'Purification of rare gases using activated uranium', J. Opt. Soc. Am., 42 (1952), 433.
19. Apparatus for spectrochemical analysis, Australian Patent Application 23,041/53 (Nov. 17, 1953); Australian Patent Specification 163,586 (Oct. 21, 1954).
20. C.T.J. Alkemade and J.M.W. Milatz, 'A double-beam method of spectral selection with flames', Appl. Phys. Res., B4 (1955), 289-299; 'Double-beam method of spectral selection with flames', J. Opt. Soc. Am., 45 (1955), 583-584.
21. J.P. Shelton, letter to A. Walsh, 5 March 1956 (A. Walsh, personal papers).
22. A.C. Nicholas, 'A case study of an innovation: the development of atomic absorption spectroscopy', January 1965 (A. Walsh, personal papers).
23. A.C. Menzies, 'A study of atomic absorption spectroscopy', Anal. Chem., 32 (1960), 898-904.
24. J.P. Shelton, letter to A. Walsh, 21 September 1956 (A. Walsh, personal papers).
25. M.L. Carseldine, The development of atomic absorption spectroscopy and subsequent instrument manufacturing industry that has arisen in Australia. MSc thesis, Griffith University, Brisbane (1984).
26. J.E. Allan, 'Atomic absorption spectrophoto-metry with particular reference to the determination of magnesium', Analyst, 83 (1958), 466-471.
27. D.J. David, 'The determination of zinc and other elements in plants by atomic absorption spectroscopy', Analyst, 83 (1958), 655-661.
28. J.B. Willis, 'Determination of magnesium in blood serum by atomic absorption spectroscopy', Nature, 184 (1959), 186-187.
29. B.S. Rawling, M.D. Amos and M.C. Greaves, 'The determination of silver in lead concentrates by atomic absorption spectroscopy', Nature, 188 (1960), 137-138.
30. P. Kelly, 'A good idea is so hard to sell', The Australian, 31 May 1976.
31. S. Encel, 'Science, discoveries and innovation: an Australian case history', Int. Soc. Sci. J., 22 (1970), 42-53.
32. J.J. McNeill, 'Diffraction grating ruling in Australia', Rec. Aust. Acad. Sci., 2 (1972), 18-39.
33. M.D. Amos, 'The development of the atomic absorption spectrometer manufacture in Australia’, Spectrochim. Acta B, 54 (1999), 2023-2030.
34. M.D. Amos and J.B. Willis, 'The use of high-temperature pre-mixed flames in atomic absorption spectroscopy', Spectrochim. Acta, 22 (1966), 1325-1343; errata ibid, p. 2228.
35. M. Spiller, 'Varian-Techtron Pty Ltd: company and product history', Doc: 1241P, Edition No. 1, May 1985.
36. J.W. Robinson, 'A tribute to Sir Alan Walsh – development of atomic absorption in the United States – "a personal view''', Spectrochim. Acta B, 54 (1999), 1993-1998.
37. J.B. Willis, 'The early days of atomic absorption spectrometry in clinical chemistry', Spectrochim. Acta B, 54 (1999), 1971-1975.
38. W. Slavin, personal communication, January 2000.
39. W. Slavin and H. Kahn, Perkin-Elmer Engineering Report 594, May (1961).
40. R.M. Lowe and J.V. Sullivan, 'Developments in light sources and detectors for atomic absorption spectroscopy', Spectrochim. Acta B, 54 (1999), 2031-2039.
41. D.S. Gough and P. Hannaford, 'Sharpening of atomic resonance lines by selective modulation', Spectrochim. Acta B, 35 (1980), 677-85.
42. R.M. Lowe, 'A high-intensity hollow-cathode lamp for atomic fluorescence', Spectrochim. Acta B, 26 (1970), 201-205.
43. P. Hannaford and R.M. Lowe, 'Determination of boron isotope ratios by atomic absorption spectroscopy', Anal. Chem., 49 (1977), 1852-1857.
44. B.V. L'vov, 'Recent advances in absolute analysis by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectroscopy', Spectrochim. Acta B, 45 (1990), 633-655.
45. A. Walsh, 'The development of atomic absorption methods of elemental analysis', Keynote Lecture, Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry, 1990 (A. Walsh, personal papers).
46. I.W. Wark, Why Research? A Research Scientist Writes of his Work, Educational Employers Ltd, Reading, UK, 1968.
47. J.B. Willis, 'Analysis of biological materials by atomic spectroscopic techniques – a review of progress in the last decade', Revue de GAMS, 1971, No. 3, pp 83-91.
48. A.W. Brown, 'The economic benefits to Australia from atomic absorption spectroscopy', Econ. Record, (1969), 158-180.
49. 'Answer to the puzzle of a burnt boy', Sydney Morning Herald, 14 September 1968.
50. B.O. Jones, P. Hannaford and G. Nossal, Interview with Robyn Williams and Martin Hewetson, The Science Show, Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 5 September 1998.
51. 'Dr Alan Walsh to become industry consultant', Coresearch, No. 212 (1977), p. 1; A.L.G. Rees, telex to M. Dack, 31 December 1976 (A. Walsh, personal papers).
52. A. Corney, B.P. Kibble and G.W. Series, 'The forward scattering of resonance radiation with special reference to double resonance and level-crossing experiments', Proc. Roy. Soc. London, A 293 (1966), 70-93.
53. P.L. Larkins, 'Sir Alan Walsh – the scientist and the man', Analyst, 117 (1992), 231-233.
54. J.B. Willis, personal communication, March 2000.
55. A.F. Moodie, personal communication, December 1999.
56. A.L.G. Rees, communication to CSIRO Head Office, 22 August 1972 (A. Walsh, personal papers).
57. A. Trumble, Eulogy, Thanksgiving Service for Alan Walsh, 7 August 1998.
58. 'Atomic absorption spectroscopy: past, present and future – to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Alan Walsh's landmark paper in Spectrochimica Acta', Spectrochim. Acta B, 35 (1980), 637-993.
59. Alan Walsh Memorial Issue, Spectrochim. Acta B, 54 (1999), 2031-2039.

Bibliography

Contributions to books

1. A. Walsh, The spectrographic analysis of aluminium alloys by the direct comparison method, in Collected Papers on Metallurgical Analysis by the Spectrograph, ed. D.M. Smith, Brit. Non-Ferrous Metals Research Assoc., London, 1945, pp. 65-81.
2. A. Walsh, D.M. Smith, The spectrographic analysis of zinc base alloys, ibid., pp. 116-129.
3. D.M. Smith, A. Walsh, Note on the spectro-graphic determination of aluminium in aluminium brass (76/22/2), ibid., pp. 130-134.
4. A. Walsh, Light sources for spectrochemical analysis, in Metal Spectroscopy, ed. F. Twyman, Griffin, London, 1950, pp. 170-228.
5. N.S. Ham, A. Walsh, Raman bands in liquids, in Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Physics, Vol. 6, Pergamon, Oxford, 1962, p. 177.
6. A. Walsh, J.B. Willis, Atomic absorption spectrometry, in Standard Methods of Chemical Analysis, Vol. 3, Part A. Instrumental Methods, ed. F.J. Welcher, Van Nostrand, Princeton, NJ, 1966, pp. 105-117.

Journal articles

7. D.M. Smith, A. Walsh, The electrical screening of sparking apparatus for use in spectrographic analysis, J. Sci. Inst., 20 (1943), 63-64.
8. A. Walsh, A general-purpose source unit for the spectrographic analysis of metals and alloys, Bull. Brit. Non-Ferrous Metals Research Assoc., No. 201 (1946), 60-80; Metal Industry, 68 (1946), 243, 263, 293.
9. A. Walsh, The suppression of radio interference from spark generators used in spectrographic analysis, Brit. Non-Ferrous Metals Research Assoc., Paper No. S35/125 (1946).
10. S. Stallberg-Stenhagen, E. Stenhagen, N. Sheppard, G.B.B.M. Sutherland, A. Walsh, Infra-red spectrum and molecular structure of phthiocerane, Nature, 160 (1947), 580-582.
11. A. Walsh, The spectroscopic determination of thermodynamic data, J. Proc. Aust. Chem. Inst., 16 (1949), 371-386.
12. A. Walsh, J.B. Willis, Infra-red absorption spectra at low temperatures, J. Chem. Phys., 17 (1949), 838.
13. A. Walsh, J.B. Willis, Infra-red absorption spectra at low temperatures, J. Chem. Phys., 18 (1950), 552-556.
14. A. Walsh, Spectrographic analysis of uranium, Spectrochim. Acta, 4 (1950), 47-56.
15. A.G. Pulford, A. Walsh, The infra-red spectrum and thermodynamic constants of nitrosyl chloride, Trans. Faraday Soc., 47 (1951), 347-353.
16. J.C. Earl, R.J.W. Le Fèvre, A.G. Pulford, A. Walsh, The infra-red spectra of three sydnones, J. Chem. Soc., 481 (1951), 2207-2208.
17. A. Walsh, Design of multiple monochromators, Nature, 167 (1951), 810-811.
18. N.S. Ham, A.L.G. Rees, A. Walsh, Infra-red studies of solvent effects, Nature, 169 (1952), 110-111.
19. N.S. Ham, A.L.G. Rees, A. Walsh, The infra-red spectra of solutions of iodine in mesitylene, J. Chem. Phys., 20 (1952), 1336-1337.
20. N.S. Ham, A. Walsh, J.B. Willis, A quadruple monochromator, Nature, 169 (1952), 977.
21. A. Walsh, Multiple monochromators. I. Design of multiple monochromators, J. Opt. Soc. Am., 42 (1952), 94-95.
22. A. Walsh, Multiple Monochromators. II. Applications of a double monochromator to infra-red spectroscopy, J. Opt. Soc. Am., 42 (1952), 96-100.
23. N.S. Ham, A. Walsh, J.B. Willis, Multiple monochromators. III. A quadruple monochromator and its application to infra-red spectroscopy, J. Opt. Soc. Am., 42 (1952), 496-500.
24. A. Walsh, Multiple monochromators, Nature, 169 (1952), 976.
25. A. Walsh, Echelette zone plates for use in far infra-red spectroscopy, J. Opt. Soc. Am., 42 (1952), 213.
26. A. Walsh, Reduction of scattered light in a Littrow-type monochromator, J. Opt. Soc. Am., 43 (1953), 58.
27. A. Walsh, Design of double-beam multiple monochromators, J. Opt. Soc. Am., 43 (1953), 215.
28. A. Walsh, J.B. Willis, Multiple monochromators. IV. A triple monochromator and its application to near infra-red, visible and ultra-violet spectroscopy, J. Opt. Soc. Am., 43 (1953), 989-992.
29. A. Walsh, The application of atomic absorption spectra to chemical analysis, Spectrochim. Acta, 7 (1955), 108-117; erratum, ibid., p. 252.
30. J.P. Shelton, A. Walsh, The application of atomic absorption spectra to chemical analysis, Proc. XV Congr. Pure Appl. Chem. (Lisbon 1956), IV-50 (1958), 403-409.
31. B.J. Russell, J.P. Shelton, A. Walsh, An atomic absorption spectrophotometer and its application to the analysis of solutions, Spectrochim. Acta, 8 (1957), 317-328.
32. N.S. Ham, A. Walsh, Microwave-powered Raman sources, Spectrochim. Acta, 12 (1958), 88-93.
33. B.J. Russell, A. Walsh, Resonance radiation from a hollow cathode, Spectrochim. Acta, 15 (1959), 883-885.
34. G.F. Box, A. Walsh, A simple atomic absorption spectrophotometer, Spectrochim. Acta, 16 (1960), 255-258.
35. B.M.Gatehouse, A. Walsh, Analysis of metal samples by atomic absorption spectroscopy, Spectrochim. Acta, 16 (1960), 602-604.
36. W.G. Jones, A. Walsh, Hollow-cathode discharges: the construction and characteristics of sealed-off tubes for use as spectroscopic light sources, Spectrochim. Acta, 16 (1960), 249-254.
37. A. Walsh, The application of atomic absorption spectra to chemical analysis, Adv. Spectrosc., 2 (1961), 1-22.
38. N.S. Ham, A. Walsh, Potassium and rubidium Raman lamps, J. Chem. Phys., 36 (1962), 1096-1097.
39. A. Walsh, Atomic absorption spectroscopy, Proc. Int. Conf. Spectrosc., 10 (1962), 127-142.
40. A. Walsh, Atomic absorption spectroscopy, Rep. Conf. Hydrocarbon Res. Group Inst. Petrol., London (1962), pp. 13-28 (Inst. Petrol., London, 1962).
41. C.K. Coogan, J.D. Morrison, A. Walsh, J.K. Wilmshurst, Fourth Australian Spectroscopy Conference, Aust. J. Sci., 26 (1963), 141-145.
42. C.K. Coogan, J.D. Morrison, A. Walsh, J.K. Wilmshurst, Spectroscopy in Australia, Nature, 200 (1963), 319-322.
43. A. Walsh, Atomic absorption spectroscopy in Australia, Feigl Anniversary Symposium on Analytical Chemistry, Birmingham, 1962 (Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1963) pp. 281-287.
44. A. Walsh, Fourth Australian Spectroscopy Conference, Canberra, 1963, Appl. Optics, 3 (1964), 322.
45. J.V. Sullivan, A. Walsh, High intensity hollow-cathode lamps, Spectrochim. Acta, 21 (1965), 721-726.
46. J.V. Sullivan, A. Walsh, Resonance radiation from atomic vapours, Spectrochim. Acta, 21 (1965), 727-730.
47. A. Walsh, Some recent advances in atomic absorption spectroscopy, Proc. 12th Int. Conf. Spectrosc., (1965), pp. 43-65.
48. J.A. Bowman, J.V. Sullivan, A. Walsh, Isolation of atomic resonance lines by selective modulation, Spectrochim. Acta, 22 (1966), 205-210.
49. J.V. Sullivan, A. Walsh, The application of resonance lamps as monochromators in atomic absorption spectroscopy, Spectrochim. Acta, 22 (1966), 1843-1852.
50. A. Walsh, Some recent advances in atomic absorption spectroscopy, Jl. N. Z. Inst. Chem., 30 (1966), 7-21.
51. A. Walsh, Some recent advances in atomic absorption spectroscopy, Zh. Prikl. Spektrosk., 4 (1966), 471-480. (In Russian – translation of preceding reference.)
52. J.V. Sullivan, A. Walsh, Resonance monochromators for absorption measure-ments in the visible and ultraviolet, Spectrochim. Acta B, 23 (1967), 131-132.
53. A. Walsh, Atomic absorption spectroscopy (Einstein Memorial Lecture, 1967), Aust. Physicist, 4 (1967), 185-189.
54. A. Walsh, Atomic absorption spectroscopy: a foreword, Appl. Opt., 7 (1968), 1259-1260.
55. A. Walsh, Simultaneous multi-element analysis by atomic absorption spectroscopy, XIII Colloquium Spectroscopicum Internationale, Ottawa, 1967, pp. 257-268 (1968).
56. J.V. Sullivan, A. Walsh, The isolation and detection of atomic resonance lines, Appl. Opt., 7 (1968), 1271-1280.
57. P.L. Larkins, R.M. Lowe, J.V. Sullivan, A. Walsh, The use of solar-blind photomultipliers in flame spectroscopy, Spectrochim. Acta B, 24 (1969), 187-190.
58. A. Walsh, Physical aspects of atomic absorption, ASTM Spec. Tech. Pub., No. 443 (1969) 3-18.
59. P.A. Bennett, J.V. Sullivan, A. Walsh, A simple protein meter, Anal. Biochem., 36 (1970), 123-126.
60. A. Walsh, The application of new techniques to simultaneous multi-element analysis, Pure Appl. Chem., 23 (1970), 1-10.
61. A. Walsh, Preface to B.V. L'vov, Atomic Absorption Spectrochemical Analysis, (Adam Hilger, London, 1970).
62. A. Walsh, Eighth Australian Spectroscopy Conference, Monash University, 16-20 August 1971, Appl. Opt., 11 (1972), 708.
63. D.S. Gough, P. Hannaford, A. Walsh, The application of cathodic sputtering to the production of atomic vapours in atomic fluorescence spectroscopy, Spectrochim. Acta B, 28 (1973), 197-210.
64. A. Walsh, Atomic absorption methods for the direct analysis of metals and alloys, (Hasler Award Address, 1972), Appl. Spectrosc., 27 (1973), 335-341.
65. A. Walsh, Invention and innovation, Search, 4 (1973), 69-74.
66. A. Walsh, Non-dispersive systems in atomic spectroscopy, Pure Appl. Chem., 34 (1973), 145-161.
67. A. Walsh, Obituary to Mr J.E. Allan, Search, 4 (1973), 126.
68. A. Walsh, Atomic absorption spectroscopy – stagnant or pregnant?, Anal. Chem., 46 (1974), 689A-708A.
69. A. Walsh, Ninth Australian Spectroscopy Conference, Australian National University, 13-17 August 1973, Appl. Optics, 13 (1974), 703.
70. A. Walsh, The separated flame as a resonance detector, Analyst, 100 (1975), 764.
71. A. Walsh, Spectrochemistry since Kirchhoff and Bunsen. Proc. Roy. Aust. Chem. Inst., 42 (1975), 297-303.
72. P.L. Larkins, A. Walsh, Flame-type resonance spectrometers – a new direction in atomic spectroscopy, Proc. Int. Conf. on Heavy Metals in the Environment, Toronto, 27-31 October 1975, 249-259.
73. A. Walsh, Atomic absorption spectroscopy and its applications – old and new, Pure Appl. Chem., 49 (1977), 1621-1628.
74. A. Walsh, Atomic spectroscopy – what next?, Atom. Abs. Newsletter, 17 (1978), 97-99.
75. A. Walsh, The birth of modern atomic absorption spectroscopy, Chimia, 34 (1980), 427-429.
76. A. Walsh, The application of atomic absorption spectrometry to chemical analysis, Matthews Flinders Lecture of the Australian Academy of Science, Hist. Rec. Aust. Sci., 5 (1980), 129-162.
77. A. Walsh, Atomic absorption spectroscopy – some personal recollections and speculations, Spectrochim. Acta B, 35 (1980), 639-642.
78. A. Walsh, Atomic absorption and atomic fluorescence methods of elemental analysis: their merits and limitations, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. London, A305 (1982), 485-498.
79. K. Braun, W. Slavin, A. Walsh, Non-dispersive atomic fluorimeter for metals that form volatile hydrides, Spectrochim. Acta B, 37 (1982), 721-726.
80. A. Walsh, Coherent forward scattering and its application to elemental analysis, Anal. Proc., 21 (1984), 54-55.
81. P. Hannaford, A. Walsh, Sputtered atoms in absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy, Spectrochim. Acta B, 43 (1988), 1053-1068.
82. A. Walsh, The development of atomic absorption methods of elemental analysis 1952-1962, Anal. Chem., 63 (1991), 933A-941A.
83. A. Walsh, The development of the atomic absorption spectrophotometer, Spectrochim. Acta B, 54 (1999), 1943-1952; reproduced from a draft of a manuscript written in June 1976.

Notes

Numbers in brackets refer to the bibliography.

Numbers in square brackets refer to the references.

* In 1949 the (Australian) Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) became the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO). In October 1958 the Chemical Physics Section of the CSIRO Division of Industrial Chemistry became the Division of Chemical Physics, with Dr A.L.G. Rees as its foundation chief.

** The receipt date of Walsh's paper (29) is stated as 18 January 1955, which was subsequently amended to 19 November 1954 in an erratum (29). The receipt date of the paper by Alkemande and Milatz was 29 December 1954, and 27 December 1954 for a short Letter to the Editor.

*** Chester Nimitz Jr was Vice-President of the Instrument Division of the Perkin-Elmer Corporation and soon became President and later Chairman of the Board of Perkin-Elmer.

Written by D.J. Brown.

• Introduction
• Formative years (1907–1924)
• Student years (1925–1937)
• Sydney years (1938–1947)
• London years (1948–1956)
• Canberra years (1956–1972)
• Retirement years (1973–1989)
• Albert the man
• About this memoir

Introduction

When Adrien Albert died in Canberra on 29th December 1989, Australia lost an outstanding son. Not only had he introduced and firmly established the discipline of medicinal chemistry within this country but, in so doing, he had contributed greatly to research in heterocyclic chemistry. Little wonder that his early research and scholarship in both areas had been recognized even in 1948 by Sir Howard (later Lord) Florey, who induced the Australian National University to offer Albert the foundation Chair of Medical Chemistry within its newly-established John Curtin School of Medical Research, a position he occupied with distinction until his retirement in 1972 (1). Although a complex person, Albert operated on two simple principles: time was the most precious commodity in life, and, for any who undertook scientific research, the work was infinitely more important than the worker. Those who could share or appreciate these beliefs found in him a stimulating and kindly colleague; those who were irritated by them soon went elsewhere.

Formative years (1907–1924)

Albert was born in Sydney on 19th November 1907. His father, Jacques Albert, was a businessman in the music industry who had come to Australia from the Ukraine, although (probably) of Swiss nationality, while his much younger mother, Mary Eliza Blanche, was Australian born; he had two considerably older half-brothers from an earlier marriage of his father. Jacques did not survive many years, so young Adrien was brought up by his mother and a more distant relative in Sydney. After attending primary schools in Randwick and Coogee, he eventually settled into the Scots College, Sydney, for his secondary education: there he excelled in both music and science, although his youthful enthusiasm for an experimental approach to the latter sometimes proved embarrassing to the school. He matriculated in 1924.

Student years (1925–1937)

At this stage, Albert was expected to enter the family music-publishing business but he had his sights firmly set on a career in pure science. Eventually a compromise was reached and he undertook the then current course in pharmacy, which involved part-time attendance at Sydney University combined with a type of apprenticeship in a pharmacy. However, having become a State-registered pharmacist in 1928, Albert soon realized that life in a pharmacy consisted of too little science and too much commerce for his liking. Accordingly, after the inevitable wrangle, he returned to Sydney University and completed a BSc with first class honours and University Medal in 1932. He worked briefly in the University's Pharmacy Department where he produced his first papers, and then for a period in a fabric dyeing firm to save some money.

He departed for London in 1934. There he commenced research for the PhD degree under he guidance of W.H. Linnell (2) at the College of the Pharmaceutical Society, part of London University. His research project, on the synthesis of new aminoacridines as potential antiseptics, introduced him to the world of heterocyclic chemistry and led to his life-long fascination with the role of heterocyclic compounds in chemotherapy and medicine.

Because he was forced to live on his meagre savings, supplemented only by a minute income from some part-time dispensing work in London, his meals became irregular and inadequate: this, combined with long hours at the bench, led inevitably to stomach ulceration, haemorrhage, and perforation. Emergency surgical intervention was carried out by a junior registrar at a London hospital in the middle of the night: although his life was saved thereby, he was left with an appalling legacy from which he suffered grievously for the rest of his life, despite later skilled reparative work. However, he graduated PhD (Med) in 1937 and immediately set out on a brief but extensive journey (the harbinger of many in later life) to visit German, French and other European centres of chemotherapeutic research, then located mainly in industrial laboratories.

Sydney years (1938–1947)

Albert returned to Australia in 1938 and took temporary teaching positions (offering some research facilities), first in the Pharmacy Department, and subsequently with J.C. Earl in the Organic Chemistry Department of Sydney University. His continuing presence in the latter department was engineered by Earl, using a variety of funding devices, until Albert was appointed as advisor on medical chemistry to the Medical Directorate of the Australian Army in 1942. During this period, he not only continued his earlier acridine antiseptic research with any available co-workers, but also undertook the development of a practical synthesis of the acridine antimalarial, mepacrine ('Atebrin'), and the industrial scale preparation of the antiseptic, proflavine, both of which were needed desperately in the Pacific war zones (3). The Organic Chemistry Department's technical laboratory was given over to the manufacture of proflavine under the direct supervision of Dr Konrad Gibian, an employee of a small but active chemical firm, Timbrol Ltd. Many kilograms were produced under very difficult conditions: all those associated with the makeshift plant (including Gibian and Albert) remained a bright yellow hue for several years afterwards and all paths in the vicinity fluoresced a brilliant green whenever it rained. Proflavine was subsequently replaced by one of Albert's new compounds, aminacrine (9-aminoacridine), but it was produced in an industrial plant under the trade name 'Monacrin'.

Albert was always extremely tall and slim (hence the affectionate nickname, 'the snake' used by his less respectful students) and, at this time, he dressed very nattily in a double-breasted navy-blue suit surmounted by a then-fashionable narrow-brimmed felt hat with a small red or green feather in the band. During a wartime trip to Washington in connection with the mepacrine project, Albert inadvertently sat upon his prized hat all the way across the Pacific in the belly of a bomber: it was never seen again, nor did he ever buy another hat.

Towards the end of the war, Albert's research was at last appreciated by a recently formed funding organization, the (Australian) National Health and Medical Research Council, which began to support his work more adequately. Thus he built up a 'chemotherapy team' which lasted until his departure in late 1947 to join the Wellcome Research Institution in London.

These years had seen the transformation of Albert from a penniless postdoctoral person, with little but potential to offer, into a respected team leader with an established pattern of fundamental research in the burgeoning area of chemotherapy, so recently stimulated enormously by the advent of penicillin and the antibiotic era. His classical experimental studies on the antimicrobial activity of aminoacridines and hydroxyquinolines (with S.D. Rubbo as his chief biological collaborator) had now firmly established the overwhelming importance of physical properties in governing the activity and selectivity of drugs. The chief properties studied were (i) electron distribution governing ionization, the degree of which facilitated or forbade combination of the drug with its receptor, and (ii) steric properties, which controlled access to the correct receptor as well as the fit on arrival. Thus only two of the five possible monoaminoacridines were highly active as antibacterials: the active isomers, 3- and 9-aminoacridine, were those with ionization constants which ensured that they existed mainly as cations at the biological pH of about 7.3, whereas the inactive isomers were less than two percent cations under such conditions. This correlation was subsequently tested rigorously using more than a hundred substituted aminoacridines on more than twenty bacterial species: only those acridines which were greater than fifty percent cations at pH 7.3 emerged as powerful antibacterials. Turning to steric properties, it was shown that any active molecule required a flat area extending over at least three six-membered rings. Thus 4-aminopyridine and 4-aminoquinoline had acceptable ionization constants but lacked sufficient flat area for high activity; likewise, 9-aminoacridine with one of its outer rings hydrogenated (and hence no longer flat) lost its activity although its pK_a was still satisfactory; and activity was restored to 4-aminoquinoline by the addition of a coplanar styryl grouping. These findings were of course further tested with other compounds. Albert's expertise in the chemistry of acridines resulted in the publication of an excellent monograph, The Acridines, in 1951 and an updated version some fifteen years later. In reading about acridines, it should be borne in mind that the numbering system was changed by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry about 1950: thus for example,5-aminoacridine became thereafter 9-aminoacridine. Most of Albert's acridine papers and the first edition of his book used the old system but his later papers and the second edition of his book necessarily employed the revised system.

This period of Albert's life concluded appropriately with the award of the DSc (London) in 1947.

London years (1948–1956)

The Wellcome Research Institution in London did not retain Albert's services as a senior research worker for long. On 1st January 1949, he took up his appointment as Professor and Head of the Medical Chemistry Department within the Australian National University. Because no building was available in Canberra, he promptly established his department in hired laboratories on the top floor of the Wellcome Building in Euston Road, London. An appropriate nucleus of staff was engaged and research began about 1st April 1949. As befitted the new era, Albert chose to abandon most former research topics in favour of a new start in purine and pteridine chemistry, an area then pregnant with possibilities following the introduction of 6MP (6-mercaptopurine) and methotrexate as effective anti-leukaemia drugs and the recognition of essential roles for the folic acids in biochemistry. As well as his own bench work, supervision of his new staff, and a deep involvement in planning the new (but yet unnamed) school of medical research for Canberra, Albert now became quite obsessed with the concept of selective toxicity: he had introduced this novel term into pharmacology during a remarkable series of lectures delivered with the encouragement of F.G. Young at University College London during 1948-49. Thus he envisaged an ideal drug as highly toxic to an invading pathogenic organism but minimally toxic to the host: moreover, this concept was applicable not only to human and veterinary medicine, but to pesticides, selective herbicides and such like. This unifying thought was released to a wider audience in the tiny first edition of Selective Toxicity in 1951 and it was progressively developed in successive editions during the next thirty-five years. These books became essential reading for generations of pharmacologists, medicinal chemists, and agricultural chemists, especially in the United States, Japan, and the less conservative parts of Europe.

Despite the enormous enthusiasm of both professor and staff, the new department was not without its vicissitudes. For example, Albert did keep an unusually tight rein on his research staff and this irritated some beyond endurance: one such person even complained formally to Florey (then the de facto director of the unassembled school of medical research) of Albert's perceived shortcomings in human relations, a complaint rejected outright at the time but later followed up tactfully by Florey. Several years later Albert's application for tenure on behalf of an excellent member of his research staff was rejected by the appropriate board in Canberra because of vehement opposition by two influential members, apparently on political grounds. To his lasting credit, Albert campaigned at the highest level, boots and all, against this misguided decision and it was eventually reversed, alas too late to retain the services of the person involved.

At the outset, it was expected that the department would stay in London for perhaps three years but in the event it was there for seven. During that time the new pteridine project produced detailed data on the synthesis, properties and behaviour of hundreds of simple pteridine derivatives, only one of which had been known at the outset. This provided an invaluable sound basis for later and more biologically applied work elsewhere (4). A similar approach to purines was less spectacular, simply because more was known of the basic chemistry to start with. Aspects of related heterocyclic nuclei were studied similarly as required for comparison. Parallel with the above efforts, work continued on the degree of metal-binding by heterocycles, amino acids, and other naturally-occurring substances, mainly in connection with antimicrobial activity. Although the last project proved fascinating at the time, the mathematics involved in calculating stability constants for metal-ligand complexes in solution were so time-consuming and wearisome, that only in later years (during the computer age) did this work bear significant fruit in the hands of Albert's associate, D.D. Perrin.

Canberra years (1956–1972)

In 1956 Albert at last received word that the new building in Canberra was ready for occupation. Accordingly, every piece of equipment (down to the last beaker) in the Euston Road laboratories was carefully packed by all available hands and the professor, most of his staff (including families, domestic pets etc.), and a great many packing cases set out in October for Canberra by devious routes. By March 1957, research had recommenced in Wing-D of the new building, which included a sizeable technical-scale laboratory now fully equipped and serviced for pilot-scale production of intermediates or final products for biological or even clinical trial. Unfortunately, Albert's foresight in providing this facility was never fully rewarded: it proved so expensive to operate effectively that it was eventually converted into an animal breeding and holding area.

Research now flourished with a greatly expanded staff but Albert soon noticed that he enjoyed less personal research time at the bench on account of a greatly increased administrative load and necessary attendance at various boards, committees and other such paraphernalia accumulated by universities. However, he pushed ahead, especially with an investigation of covalent hydration in the pteridine series: this was a chemically and biologically important phenomenon he had discovered shortly before leaving London. He now realized that such addition reactions also occurred to other highly-nitrogenous heterocycles and could involve alcohols, the so-called Michael reagents, amines, and even other heterocycles in place of water. All aspects of this area were explored with his customary thoroughness. He also made several in-depth excursions into the very difficult area of hydropteridines and related series, where he developed much needed methods of synthesis and proof of configuration for such products, prone to facile prototropy. Because of its fundamental importance to any understanding of the physical and biological properties of heterocyclic compounds, Albert now returned to his studies of ionization. For example, he and his colleague, G.B. Barlin, studied tautomeric equilibria of hydroxy-, mercapto-, and amino-heterocycles in solution by using the twin tools of ionization constant measurement and ultraviolet spectra. In addition he produced the first and second editions of Ionization Constants, an invaluable manual covering the background, practical measurement, and interpretation of ionization data. Usually in connection with one or other of the above themes, Albert sometimes reverted to regular synthetic and/or degradative studies of specific pteridines or related heterocyclic compounds. In addition, he produced a slim and subsequently a more detailed edition of Heterocyclic chemistry, the first general text to classify heterocyclic systems logically as paraffinic (fully reduced), ethylenic (partly reduced), p-deficient heteroaromatics (e.g. pyridine), and p-excessive heteroaromatics (e.g. pyrrole) (5). This period also saw the publication of no less than four editions of Selective Toxicity (vide supra) as well as sundry papers and reviews on drug action.

Several years before retirement, Albert became involved (in connection with his covalent hydration studies) with a little known but potentially interesting system, the v-triazolo[4,5-d]pyrimidines: these he insisted 'for simplicity' in naming as 8-azapurines (with purine numbering) against all the rules of systematic nomenclature, the advice of his colleagues, and the wrath of editors. After toiling to make some required derivatives by the usual route from pyrimidines, he began to study alternative synthetic routes from 1,2,3-triazoles, even though such intermediates were by no means easy to produce at that time. His efforts prospered and by the end of 1972 he felt that he had mastered the chemistry sufficiently to begin the preparation of more specific derivatives as potential anti-neoplastic agents and the like.

About 1970 occurred one of the greatest disappointments of Albert's life. An ad hoc review committee recommended the closure of his beloved department, not on account of any apparent shortcomings in quality or quantity of scientific work emerging but on the grounds of a perceived lack of relevance to then current trends in medical research. However, on the advice of Faculty Board, the university eventually decided to compromise by continuing the discipline of medicinal chemistry within the John Curtin School as a slowly diminishing Medical Chemistry Group with more applied guidelines. This flew in the face of Albert's basic philosophy that the relationship between physico-chemical properties and biological activities in molecules was more important to the ultimate development of medicinal chemistry than was any direct search for new or improved drugs. His general distress was clearly expressed during his valedictory lecture on 25th October 1972 but only a hint of his feelings remained evident in the published excerpts (4). In fact, the proposed group was established in 1973 and continued vigorously under a new head until it was phased out thirteen years later (6).

Retirement years (1973–1989)

Although he had the foresight and good fortune to arrange a Visiting Fellowship (with laboratory and office facilities, as well as some technical assistance) within the Research School of Chemistry for 1973 onwards, retirement proved a grievous blow to Albert. For some time he went about lamenting his fate as 'a discard on the scrapheap' and blaming the university for this state of affairs. However, he eventually began to rationalize the situation, to count his blessings, and to settle down to a productive retirement. This process, the recovery of self-esteem, was greatly assisted by several invitations from the United States to deliver the Patton, Blicke, and Smissman Lectures on various campuses and (in particular) to become a well-paid Visiting Professor in A.P. Grollman's Department of Pharmacological Sciences of the State University of New York at Stony Brook, on no less than six occasions.

Thus he continued his studies on the 8-azapurines and their precursors with whatever help he could muster, first in the Research School of Chemistry in Canberra, then at Stony Brook, and finally in the Department of Chemistry in Canberra from 1981. In addition, he maintained a steady output of helpful review-type papers on various facets of drug activity as well as a few others specifically on pteridines. He also produced the sixth and then the truly definitive last edition of Selective Toxicity (1985); a third edition (with E.P. Serjeant) of Ionization Constants (1984), complete with computer programs for hassle-free calculation of overlapping ionization constants and the like; a small volume, The Selectivity of Drugs; and a completely new book, Xenobiosis (on foods, drugs and poisons in the human body), a work already acclaimed as a masterpiece by life scientists and intellectual lay people alike and one which earned him the Olle literary prize from the Royal Australian Chemical Institute. At the time of his death, Albert was working actively on a totally new but yet untitled short version of his earlier heterocyclic chemistry text, this time aimed specifically at undergraduate teaching: it may yet be finished by an appropriate co-author.

Albert the man

As might be gleaned from the foregoing pages, Albert was a prodigious worker at the bench and an organizer of his own and his staff's time into the right channels. He disliked administrative work of all sorts and its cessation was the only good aspect of retirement evident to him. Because of his medical condition, he was unable to start work before 10 o'clock each morning but he seldom ceased work much before midnight, even on the weekends. Much of his writing and planning was done in the evening hours and his assistants and research students usually found long and detailed suggestions for the coming day's work (in characteristically minute handwriting) on their benches when they arrived each morning. Although he was careful to monitor the research area and general approach of his more senior staff, he seldom interfered in their day-to-day work other than to make general suggestions which were usually spot-on and readily accepted. Moreover, unlike some heads of departments, he was meticulous in discouraging the use of his name on papers to which he had made no substantial experimental or planning contribution. Thus, for example, many Parts of the Pteridine Studies series are missing from Albert's bibliography simply because he was not included thereon as an author: nevertheless, in all cases he had made at least minor contributions to the work by way of useful suggestions. However, he did insist, quite correctly, on his right to criticize constructively every paper, review or book to be submitted by any member of his staff for publication.

To anyone who was doing his or her job effectively, Albert was invariably polite and courteous but to any who appeared slack or inefficient (be it in the laboratory, a bank, a restaurant, or indeed anywhere) he could be terse in the extreme. Partly for this reason but mainly because he took great pains in preparing and delivering lectures, he was an excellent teacher of undergraduates. However, for much of his life he avoided teaching in favour of using the time for research, so that it was only in the late thirties and during the eighties that he was seen in this role. As a young man Albert was mildly misogynistic and clearly believed that a woman's place was in the home or in a secretarial or service role. More than once he seriously considered marriage but decided quite objectively that a wife and family would use up valuable time which could be better spent on research. Eventually he did realize and admit that the gender of a scientist was irrelevant but, with a few notable exceptions, he still avoided female co-workers.

Albert was an inveterate traveller providing there was a worthwhile conference or scientific contact at the end of each journey: moreover, he always delivered a well prepared and topical talk at any host institution or meeting and he invariably had telling points to make in any discussion. Thus he was an excellent roving ambassador for Australian science. He was particularly welcome in the United States where his brand of chemical pharmacology at the molecular level was accepted much earlier than in the more conservative European countries. He lectured and made friends in almost every country where heterocyclic chemical and/or drug research was at all developed. He was reasonably proficient in German, French and Italian along with some knowledge of Russian and most other major European languages. His last journey, to an International Pteridine Symposium in Zürich and subsequently to Britain and the Netherlands, was completed less than three months before his death.

Although research always came first, Albert did relax in moderation. He had an extensive knowledge and love of music coupled with considerable skill as a pianist: as might be expected, his playing was completely accurate but sometimes wanting in emotional content. He derived great enjoyment from his piano in early life and middle age but unaccountably disposed of it subsequently, possibly because of some imagined minor inadequacy in his own performance. Instrumental music, in particular that of Bach, Schumann and Schubert appealed to him greatly but he was not overly fond of lieder or choral music. His abilities as a visual artist were confined to photography (essentially a record of his travels) and to cartoons: his depictions of the canine adventures of Woofred and his wife, Ima Bitch, frequently appeared in the most unexpected places during the London years to the surprise and delight of close associates. Unusual plants and flowers fascinated Albert: although he grew only mundane indoor plants, his knowledge of Australian flora was extensive and proved invaluable for entertaining foreign visitors during a short bushwalk or visit to the botanic gardens. Perhaps because of his phenomenal memory and wide reading, he had a knowledge of clinical medicine far beyond matters connected with drug therapy: not being medically qualified, he was unable to make much practical use of this knowledge but medical practitioners often found him several steps ahead of them in diagnosis and up-to-date treatment of some disease or pathological condition.

Besides the Patton, Blicke, and Smissman lectureships and the Olle prize, already mentioned, Albert was the recipient of many honours. He was elected to Fellowship of the Australian Academy of Science in 1958; he was chosen for the inaugural Royal Society of Chemistry (Australian) Lectureship in 1960 and for the Royal Society of NSW Liversidge Research Lectureship in 1964; a biennial Adrien Albert Lectureship was endowed in his honour by the Royal Australian Chemical Institute in 1985; he received the Order of Australia (AO) in 1989; and in the very month of his death he received with genuine delight an invitation from his alma mater to accept a DSc (honoris causa) conferred posthumously on 31st March 1990 in the presence of his next-of-kin and two lifelong friends.

In early December 1989, Albert's health suddenly deteriorated markedly and he died three weeks later of complications resulting from a long-standing resistant Staphylococcus aureas infection, possibly exacerbated by a (genetic) Marfan syndrome condition.

About this memoir

This memoir was originally published in Historical Records of Australian Science, vol. 8(2), 1990. It was written by D.J. Brown, formerly Reader in Medical Chemistry, Visiting Fellow in the Research School of Chemistry, Australian National University.

Notes

(1) R. Porter, 'The John Curtin School of Medical Research', Medical Journal of Australia, 142 (1985) 205.

(2) I.D. Rae and T.H. Spurling, 'Obituary: Adrien Albert A.O.', Chemistry in Australia, 57 (1990) 116.

(3) D.P. Mellor, Australia in the War of 1939-1945, Series 4, Volume 5: The Role of Science and Industry (Canberra: Australian War Memorial, 1958), pp.619 and 635.

(4) Anon., 'The Department of Medical Chemistry, ANU (Excerpts from a lecture given by A.Albert)', Proceedings of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute, 41 (1974) 79.

(5) E. Campaigne, 'Adrien Albert and the rationalization of heterocyclic chemistry', Journal of Chemical Education, 63 (1986) 860.

(6) Anon., 'Medical Chemistry Group', in John Curtin School of Medical Research, Annual Report 1985, ed. P.D. Jeffrey (Canberra: ANU, 1986), p.189.

This series of three pamphlets has been created by the National Committee for Physics to highlight the benefit of physics in Australian education and industry and the importance of international physics collaborations.

Australia in the era of global astronomy: The decadal plan for Australian astronomy 2016–2025 presents the strategic vision for Australian astronomy for the next decade. 

The plan is based on the reports of working groups (listed below) comprising over 150 astronomers, engineers and educators from over 30 Australian institutions across all states and the ACT.

Download background documents

The National Committee for Chemistry (NCC) is currently carrying out the first Decadal Plan for Chemistry. The goal of the decadal plan is to understand the role of chemistry in Australian society—its strengths, its weaknesses and its challenges. The plan will outline how the discipline will move forward over the next 10 years. It will explore teaching and research, the role of government, the nexus with industry, employment and outreach within chemistry, as well as the role of chemistry in advancing Australian society, for example through improved environmental awareness, by expanding our capability in advanced manufacturing, and by increasing our understanding of the world around us.

Background

Chemistry is the largest scientific discipline, and is often termed the central science. At present, 29 of Australia’s universities have dedicated chemistry departments.^[1] Contrary to popular belief there is close to gender balance with 55.7% of all graduates in chemistry being male.^[2] Mean annual salaries are $50,000, with a mean graduation age of 22. Around 50% of chemists work in industry, 25% in universities or teaching, and 24% in government laboratories^[2]. The peak body for chemistry is the Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI), which currently has some 5,000 members and has a rising membership.^[3] 

Chemistry is strongly coupled to industry. For example, chemicals and plastics supply 109 of Australia’s 111 industries. There are 60,000 people employed in the chemical industry and it is our second largest manufacturing sector. The sector contributes $11.6 billion dollars annually to Australian GDP.^[4,5]

Research in chemistry

Research in chemistry at Australian universities is at, or above, world-class standard as evident from both the Excellence for Research in Australia (ERA) assessments in 2010 and 2012.^[6] Typically, Australian research in chemistry accounts for 2% of high-impact research publications while chemistry researchers account for barely 1% of world population of workers in the field—we publish well above our weight. As many as six chemistry departments are in the top 100 in the world according to current university rankings.^[7] However, despite the clear vitality of chemistry research and industry in Australia, the landscape is changing. Manufacturing overall is declining, investment by industry into research is stagnant, and chemistry as a whole often has a poor reputation within the community. These trends are worrying and provide a signal that a true audit, review and roadmap of the discipline are overdue.

Time for a plan

Surprisingly, despite the impressive figures, no true decadal plan for chemistry has ever been prepared. A strategic plan and vision was put together by Tom Spurling, David Black, Frank Larkins and Tom Robertson in 1993 but unfortunately gained little traction, though many of its recommendations would be relevant today.^[8] In 2005, a review of chemistry was carried out by the RACI, but this focused tightly on the education and training aspects and did not provide a roadmap for the future.^[9] A smaller report commissioned and managed by CSIRO explored the state of the chemistry industry in 2006.^[10]

Aims

The Decadal Plan for Chemistry will:

• provide an assessment of the current state of chemistry within Australia
• identify strengths and weaknesses and opportunities for the discipline
• provide mechanisms and strategies to achieve the goals of the plan.

The decadal plan will provide the key information and knowledge needed to help direct future investment in chemistry, enabling us to tackle the following fundamental questions:

• Where are the new jobs in chemistry (nanotechnology, biotechnology) and what skills are needed for chemistry graduates?
• How can we better communicate the tremendous advances and contributions of chemistry to the community?
• How can we improve interactions between industry, universities and government, and maintain workforce numbers?
• How does multidisciplinary research impact on chemistry?
• How can we increase the numbers of students studying chemistry, science and maths at secondary schools? Are students really prepared for tertiary education? Does the new National Curriculum meet the needs of the chemistry community?

The final plan will be delivered to government in early 2016. The plan is targeted at: chemistry researchers and educators, educational bodies including high schools, tertiary sector institutions, government agencies, industry and business. The decadal plan will be implemented through a collective approach across education, industry, research and government with clear-cut goals and milestones over the lifetime of the plan. The RACI will provide a focal point for much of this activity.

1. ^[1] http://science.uniserve.edu.au/disc/chem/depts.html, updated April 2012.
2. ^[2] Graduate Careers Australia (http://www.graduatecareers.com.au/).
3. ^[3] http://www.raci.org.au.
4. ^[4] PACIA is the Plastics and Chemicals Industries Association.
5. ^[5] PACIA - “Adding Value – Strategic Roadmap”, 2011. See http://www.pacia.org.au.
6. ^[6] ERA Outcomes are available at: http://www.arc.gov.au/era/era_2012/outcomes_2012.htm
7. ^[7] The Times Higher Education Supplement (THES) (http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk) names 3 Chemistry schools, while the QS Rankings (http://www.topuniversities.com) name 6 Schools of Chemistry in the top 100.
8. ^[8] Chemistry-A Vision for Australia - RACI 1993 (7.3MB pdf file).
9. ^[9] “Future of Chemistry Study – The Supply and Demand of Chemists”, RACI, G Simpson (ed.), 2005, ISBN 0-9756825-0-4.
10. ^[10] “Innovation Strategies for the Australian Chemical Industry”, G. Upstill et al. J. Bus. Chemistry, 3, 9 (2006). ISSN 1613 – 9615.

The Decadal Plan for Chemistry is managed by a working group consisting of leading chemistry researchers from around the country, including the President of the RACI, members of the NCC, as well as representatives from industry (PACIA), the Australian Research Council (ARC), the high school sector and CSIRO. Consultation across as much of the chemistry community as possible is desired and this will be achieved by public consultation through more than a dozen open meetings, presentations by working group members, one-on-one interviews across the sector and web-based, written submissions from the community. There will be a further feedback process following release of the White Paper in 2015.

In addition to the working group, sub-committees focused on key areas will contribute to the collection and surveying process.

Meet the Decadal Plan Committee

• Professor Paul Mulvaney (Chair, University of Melbourne)
• Professor Mark Buntine (2013-2014 President of RACI, Curtin University)
• Professor Paul Bernhardt (2015-2016 President of the RACI, University of Queensland)
• Professor Evan Bieske (University of Melbourne)
• Professor Michelle Coote (ANU)
• Professor Martina Stenzel (UNSW Australia)
• Dr Regina Menz (Education Officer, Catholic Schools Office Armidale)
• Dr Dave Winkler (CSIRO)
• Professor David Black (UNSW Australia)
• Dr Oliver Jones (RMIT)
• Associate Professor Rich Payne (The University of Sydney)
• Dr Greg Simpson (CSIRO)
• Dr John Lambert (Biota)

Meet the Decadal Plan Working Group

• Professor Paul Bernhardt (University of Queensland)
• Professor Mark Buntine (Curtin University)
• Dr Peter Bury (PACIA)
• Professor Emily Hilder (University of Tasmania)
• Ms Samires Hook and Ms Poulomi Agrawal (Australian Academy of Science)
• Professor Kate Joliffe (University of Sydney)
• Professor Dianne Jolley (University of Wollongong)
• Dr John Lambert (Biota P/L)
• Professor Steven Langford (Monash University)
• Ms Regina Menz (Education Officer, Catholic Schools Office Armidale)
• Professor Paul Mulvaney (Chair) (University of Melbourne)
• Dr Samantha Read (PACIA)
• Dr Elke Scheurmann (Rapid Invention P/L)
• Professor Joe Shapter (Flinders University)
• Dr Greg Simpson (CSIRO)
• Ms Alexandra Strich (University of Melbourne)
• Professor  Brian Yates (University of Tasmania)