The rewards of fundamental atomic spectrometry research

Atomic spectrometry research is the life-blood of the atomic spectrometry instrument industry. The instrument designer can be expected to innovate in the execution of instrumentation and should be expected to be the expert in optical, electronic and software engineering. Fundamentally new technology has required too long a period of gestation to be compatible with commercial time scales and budgets. But in the past decade, the pressure from stockholders for increased return on investments has put increasingly strong pressure on management to reduce expenses and focus increasingly on projects that guarantee a fast payback. This pressure falls particularly heavily on the larger companies; the same companies that a decade or more ago were the ones that brought the more far-reaching and expensive new concepts to market. Fundamental research in atomic spectrometry has been accomplished in the past several decades mostly in the academic environment and in research institutions that are Federally funded. All of the Federally funded research institutions have been forced to alter their missions to more tangible and immediate goals, and many have also seen severe financial reductions.