We were advised to use local resources. Bleach solution was bought in the supermarket, and phenol and a syringes in a pharmacy [3]. Jarda convinced us to trust in the laboratory-made things, thus the ferric nitrate solution made from clips and nitric acid was used as reagent to demonstrate feasibility of stream splitting in flow injection analysis [4]. NOTE: Reference numbers in [ ] refer to Hansen's database.
He quoted Faraday, encouraging us to give priority to immediate publication of all finished work. As to our research strategy, he suggested that the work related to FIA part 5 (nitrogen and phosphorus determinations in plant digests) [5] should begin only after simpler chloride determination in river waters) [4] was completed, since both techniques relied on stream splitting. Jarda became upset with me because I assembled first the complex manifold for N + P instead of getting a simple one to work. Since then, I realized that pedagogic aspects: moving from simple to complex systems is more important than chronology of research.
Another interesting personal characteristic of the visiting professor was his foreseeing ability.
In 1975, he confided to me that "flow injection analysis" was a too narrow expression, linked only to analytical chemistry; he imagined broader expressions such as "flow injection synthesis" and "flow injection chemistry". In August 2011, the Journal of Flow Chemistry was launched by Akadémiai Kiadó in Hungary.
He foresaw the need for modern instruments to improve CENA's analytical capacity. He was right. The requested from IAEA two-channel AutoAnalyzer and the atomic absorption spectrometer. Instruments arrived after his leave and were essential for further conceptual, methodological and applicative enhancements in flow injection analysis.
He stressed the problems arising from burning sugarcane plantations, especially in Piracicaba. Nowadays, this procedure is forbidden by law, and Piracicaba is a center of excellence in developing greener energetic alternatives, mainly those aiming at to minimize CO2 release towards the environment.
In following years, Jarda and Elo came several times to CENA and their scientific cooperation with us was maintained, corroborating the Brazilian mot: "If you've been happy here, you always come back". Their last cooperation with our group here in CENA dealt with selectivity in flow analysis [378]. Furthermore, some Brazilian Ph.D. students were hosted in Seattle and Lyngby by them.
The scientific community realized that the most important contribution of Jarda and Elo, in collaboration with CENA staff was the pioneering implementation of flow injection to large scale analysis [440].
