Marching on
5.1.8.
The Swedish Society for Analytical Chemistry periodically organizes Analytiska Dagor – a joyful affair attended by a large community of analytical chemists from all over Scandinavia. At this event in Lund in June 1976, Elo talked about FIA with his Swedish friends in the audience, among them Rune Lundin and Bo Karlberg. This was the start of a cooperation that continued for many years. Soon Bo joined Rune’s company, and with Torbjorn Anfalt, worked toward making the first commercial FIA instrument. (I recall watching Torbjorn playing with an
electric toy train in the lab – he was building a microprocessor and was running trains simulating the synchronization of pumps with valves.) Although no one became rich from this enterprise, it was a success, and later when Bifok became Tecator, the company continued, thanks to Jorgen Muller, to develop and produce FI instruments. Within a year, Academia-based FIA research started to blossom, first in Sweden, and then in Japan and in Spain. Miguel Valcarcel and Lola Lucque de Castro published a monograph on FI and organized a series of excellent meetings on FI and Flow Analysis in Córdoba, Spain. The Spanish School of Analytical Chemistry has continued to gain strength.
It is beyond this story to describe everything that happened to us in those days. We were summoned to Los Angeles,subpoenaed and interrogated on behalf of the US Dept. of Agriculture, with the goal of invalidating our patents. That case was dismissed, but the experience left Elo and me feeling a bit like Alice in Wonderland. This one time I could not follow my father’s advice: ”Keep away from lawyers!” (He was a lawyer himself and my grandfather was the Chief Justice of the Czechoslovakian Supreme Court). Our Swedish sponsors were not amused by such unfounded harassment. It was a very expensive affair, with further witnesses called to Washington, DC. Finally the case was dismissed.
It would be, however, incorrect to assume that all of our US experiences were unpleasant or discouraging. On the contrary, we made many friends in Academia. I was a frequent guest at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, where I spent several quarters teaching and doing research with Art Janata and Joel Harris. They organized the first workshop on FIA in the US, and presented a number of experiments that thoroughly convinced the participants. I was glad to be repeatedly invited for collaboration, friendship and unprecedented skiing. Among our best friends were the unforgettable Cal Giddings and his wife Leslie. Together we explored many “flow systems,” including white water rafting. I will never forget meeting Cal downtown in Salt Lake City. The town was severely flooded and water was rushing through the main street. He was in his kayak.
