Hyphenated analysis methods: Past and future
With the introduction of relatively inexpensive lab. computers in the 1960s, scientists became interested in the potential for linking diverse anal. instruments under computer control. Such a development was intended to provide two advantages. The most obvious advantage is the increased anal. information provided by such linkages, a second advantage is the much improved anal. throughput that could be anticipated. The late Tomas Hirschfeld focused attention on such possibilities in a 1980 article in which he considered a 14 x 14 matrix on anal. methods, categorizing them as "presently successful", "feasible" or "requiring further invention"[1]. Subsequently, Wilkins briefly reviewed the status of implementation efforts, noting that there had been limited progress in the years since Hirshfeld's article[2]. However, analyses employing three or more dimensions had begun to emerge. In this talk, the continued progress of Hyphenated Anal. Systems will be reviewed with emphasis on the most recent developments.