Bonino and the Beginning of Infrared Spectroscopy in Italy

4 microns must be attributed more precisely to the variation of quantum oscillations set up by the C-H and N-H linkage of the molecule. Moreover, he showed how, in certain simple cases of organic liquid molecules, the intensity of the band in question can be expressed as a function of the hydrogen atom combined with carbon or nitrogen in the molecule. Bonino s interpretation was accepted soon afterward by the University of California physicist Joseph W. Ellis, who worked on the molecular absorption spectra of liquids. [14] 

Bonino brought forward a further contribution to the theory of infrared spectra of organic liquids by incorporating the Bohr-Sommerfeld quantum conditions, including the correspondence principle of Bohr as well. This paved the way toward establishing a correlation between the physical and chemical image of molecules in the study of infrared spectra. From this series of papers on infrared spectroscopy, one can already observe the interdisciplinary character of Bonino s thought. In a lecture delivered some years later, Bonino offered these reflections on his chosen field of research  

Bonino was the first chemist in Italy at the beginning of the 1920s to perceive and to exploit the importance of infrared spectroscopy for chemistry. The infrared technique offered considerable advantages for researchers working on the composition and structure of chemical compounds. While traditional methods of analysis, such as measurements of melting point or refractive index, yield information about one particular characteristic of the compound, an infrared spectrum offers several physical indicators. Despite their importance to infrared spectroscopy, however, Bonino s papers did not lead to a strong reception along the same lines within the Italian chemical community. Italian chemists continued to use classical methods of 

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