Van Zandt, Williams

In November 1959 Analytical Chemistry ran an article by Van Zandt Williams, executive vice-president of Perkin-Elmer, a major analytical instrumentation company. Williams was concerned about the lack of cooperation between analytical chemists and instrument manufacturers. He emphasized the urgent need in industry for more efficient methods of analysis "The lack of chemical analytical instrumentation—particularly automatic, direct concentration readout, chemical anal5nical instrumentation—may well be a limitation on progress in the chemical industry today" (p. 25A). He devoted a section of his article to the fact that foreign competition was putting pressure on the chemical industries in the United States to be more efficient, by utilizing more automatic means of analysis (pp. 26A-27A). Yet progress was held back by a lack of cooperation between analytical chemist and instrument maker ... 

Barnes, Gore, Liddel and Van Zandt Williams, Infra-red Spectroscopy... 

Jones, Van Zandt Williams, Whalen and Dobriner, ibid., 1948, 70, 2024. 

I wish to take this opportunity to acknowledge the constructive suggestions of Dr. Van Zandt Williams and Dr. Robert C. Gore of the Perkin-Elmer Corporation. Finally, I am grateful to Dr. Herman A. Szymanski for inviting me to participate in this project. 

Apparatus for infrared spectroscopy became commercially available at the end of World War II. After a few years, instrument manufacturers became concerned that their sales would be limited by a scarcity of users who were knowledgeable in the measurement and interpretation of infrared spectra. In 1949 Walter Baird and Bruce Billings of Baird Associates and Van Zandt Williams of the Perkin-Elmer Corporation came separately to Professor Richard C. Lord of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a leading academic researcher in the field. They explained their concern and asked him to present a short course to provide rapid training in the subject. Lord was interested but did not want to undertake the project by himself, so he invited the author to join him in the venture. 

However, it was a very stimulating experience. A number of knowledgeable people from the instrument companies were present, including Van Zandt Williams of Perkin-Elmer, Bruce Billings and David Z. Robinson from Baird Associates, and William S. Gallaway of Beckman Instruments. They commented freely, and the ensuing class discussion was lively and instructive. 

Williams, Van Zandt. 1959. "Cooperation between Analytical Chemist and Instrument Maker."... 

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