MIT chemist wins national award for lifetime's research

Chemist Klaus Biemann of Alton Bay, N.H., will be honored April 3 by the world's largest scientific society for his role in advancing the mass spectrometer, a tool that can analyze pollution, criminal evidence, pharmaceuticals, Martian soil and other organic compounds. He will receive the 2001 Award in Analytical Chemistry from the American Chemical Society at its 221st national meeting in San Diego.

Though formally retired from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology faculty since 1996, Biemann leaves a legacy of improved methods for an instrument now found in most laboratories in the world - even in space.

The mass spectrometer creates unique signatures of molecules by breaking them apart into fragments and measuring their mass. It is extremely sensitive and thus requires only tiny amounts of material, Biemann said - whether it be soot from an arson scene to identify the accelerant, a drop of urine to test an Olympic athlete for banned drugs or a sample of food product to ensure it is free of contamination.

In the 1960s, Biemann coupled the instrument with a gas chromatograph, which separates mixtures of compounds for the mass spectrometer to analyze one by one. His team also designed computer software to analyze the new wealth of information.

Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency uses the GC/MS system to detect PCBs, dioxins, MTBE and other pollutants in soil, water and air. Mass spectrometers Biemann developed for the space program landed on the surface of Mars in 1976, when the Viking missions detected no organic compounds on the planet surface. The Human Genome Project now uses his techniques to determine protein structure.

A native of Austria, Biemann attributes his early interest in chemistry to his family's apothecary. In turn, he has encouraged other young men and women to pursue a scientific career by funding a scholarship for a graduating senior of Alton (N.H.) Central High School each year since 1995.

Biemann received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Innsbruck, Austria, in 1951, and is a member of the ACS organic and analytical chemistry divisions. His other honors include election to the National Academy of Sciences.

The ACS Award in Analytical Chemistry is sponsored by Fisher Scientific Co.