"Analytical Cytology" Tomas Hirschfeld Hand Signed Announcement Todd Mueller COA

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"Analytical Cytology" Tomas Hirschfeld Hand Signed Announcement.
This item is certified authentic by Todd Mueller Autographs and comes with their Certificate of Authenticity.
ES-4930E
Tomas Hirschfeld, an internationally recognized chemist and inventor well known for his work in both analytical cytology and analytical chemistry, died on April 24, 1986, from complications of heart disease. He was 46 and is survived by his wife, Judith, and three daughters. Tomas served as a semiofficial oracle at all but the most recent analytical cytology conferences, between which he worked tirelessly and with great success at making his seemingly fantastic predictions of the future come true. He was born in Uruguay of German Jewish parents and received his bachelor’s degree from Vasquez Acevedo College and Ph.D. degrees in chemistry and chemical engineering from the National University of Uruguay, becoming a polyglot in modern languages by necessity and a polyglot in science by aptitude and interest. In 1969, after working briefly for North American Rockwell, Tomas joined the staff of Block Engineering, where, as a diversion from his work in Fourier transform infrared and Raman spectroscopy, he played a major role in the development of multiple illumination beam flow cytometers and in the extension of the sensitivity of cytornetry to detection and measurement of single virus particles and even of individual molecules. In 1979, he moved to the Chemistry and Materials Science Department at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where his efforts turned to the development of chemical microsensors utilizing fluorescence and optical tunneling measurements made through fiber optics. He also served as affiliate professor of Chemistry at the University of Washington. A prolific inventor, Tomas held over 100 patents. He was the only person ever to receive the IR-100 award, given by “Research and Development’’ magazine to the 100 best inventions of the year, five times; numerous additional commercial products based on his inventions are still in development. He won both the Louis Straight and Meggers awards from the Society for Applied Spectroscopy, and earlier this year received the Pittsburgh Conference Award. He was also an author of almost 200 scientific articles and served on the editorial boards of several journals. His prodigious list of publications is matched by an equally impressive, although less generally appreciated, body of contributions to research in areas related to national security. Tomas read about an incredible variety of subjects, and it seemed that every time he ran across a property of molecules that had not been exploited for analytical purposes, he would consider that nature had issued him. a direct challenge, in response to which he would attempt not only to tame the physical effect involved, but to make it measurable using a few cents’ worth of materials, simple electronics, and a personal computer. He had more ideas in a week than many smart people have in a year, and could bring new viewpoints to a discussion of almost any scientific problem. He was often right; more remarkably, when he was wrong, his analyses could frequently point others toward the right answers. Most recently, Tomas focused his attention on the development of microdevices and microsensors, forecasting that success in this field would reward those who could “plagiarize from nature,” allowing the use of miniaturization and machine intelligence to return measurement power to the end user (Hirschfeld T Instrumentation in the next decade. Science 230286-91,1985). His premature death reminds us that there are areas in which nature’s engineering could be improved upon; his vision and enthusiasm inspire those of us who knew him to redouble our efforts in that direction.