Peaks of Interest

Science center awarded $25,000 grant

The Pittsburgh Conference (Pittcon 2005) has awarded a $25,000 grant to the Orlando Science Center (Orlando, Florida).

The funds will allow the center to expand its educational outreach program to reach underserved areas where students cannot attend field trips to the center. Future plans include leasing a vehicle and purchasing equipment and other resources to outfit it with science tools that will enable staff to take the science center experience directly to schools.

Chromatography Market Profile: Volatile Extraction Market

Chemical Heritage Foundation to present 2005 Othmer Gold Medal to James D. Watson

The Chemical Heritage Foundation (CHF) (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) has selected James D. Watson, co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, to receive the 2005 Othmer Gold Medal. The award will be presented at the annual Othmer Gold Medal luncheon on Thursday, June 9, 2005 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Arnold Thackray, president of CHF, states, "Nobel laureate, writer, leader, innovator, iconoclast, and extraordinary man of science, James Watson fulfilled the alchemists' dream. All of mankind is indebted to Jim. His scientific imagination and intellectual drive have opened the way to countless new therapies and the possibility of longer, healthful lives."

In 1953, Watson and colleague Francis Crick successfully proposed the double-helical structure for DNA, a feat considered by many to be the greatest achievement in science in the twentieth century. Watson was a driving force behind setting up the Human Genome Project. Throughout his career, he has found time to share his insights, writing important texts for those in the sciences and also popular works that describe his life and work for those without a technical background.

Founder of Isco receives 2005 Pittcon Heritage Award

The founder of the Instrumentation Specialties Company (Isco, now Teledyne Isco), noted entrepreneur and prolific innovator Robert W. Allington, has received the 2005 Pittcon Heritage Award.

The award recognizes outstanding individuals whose entrepreneurial careers have shaped the instrumentation community, inspired achievement, promoted public understanding of modern instrumentation sciences, and highlighted the role of analytical chemistry in world economies. Allington holds more than 200 U.S. and foreign patents and has developed many important instrumentation technologies for separations and biological research.

Allington's work on separation science was followed by development of UV absorbance detectors for separation by LC, centrifuged density gradients, and electrophoresis. These detectors also marked the first use of electronic peakslope detection to control fraction collectors or data systems.

Allington also developed the first portable spectroradiometer, as well as the first electronically programmable multipump gradient former for LC.

Pall Corporation acquires Euroflow

Pall Corporation (East Hills, New York) announced that it has acquired Euroflow of Stroud, U.K. Euroflow is one of the world's leading manufacturers of pilot and production-scale chromatography columns for the biotechnology industry. Pall has had exclusive global marketing and distribution rights to Euroflow chromatography columns and associated technologies since 2002.

Chairman and CEO of Pall, Eric Kransnoff, states, "We welcome Euroflow to our growing family of purification technologies. We are responding to the industry's request for integrated systems solutions for purification technologies from development through large-scale production.