Specmchimico Acm Vol. 468, No. 3. pp.315317, 1991 Printed in Great Bntain.

OBITUARY

Dr. F.J.M. J. Maessen

1931- 1990

0.564-8547/91 13.00 t .lm Pergamon Press pk.

Dr. FRANS MAESSEN passed away of a fatal heart attack, at the age of 59, on Thursday, 8 November 1990. Although, in view of his health, his death came not entirely unexpected, it came suddenly and as a shock. It is with profound sadness that I have to announce his death in Spectr&rimicu Acta B, not primarily as Editor-in-Chief of the journal, but as FRANS’ personal friend. I am grateful that I am allowed to write this “In Memoriam”, as a tribute to a noble person with whom I have had a close relationship for 29 years.

Dr. FRANS MAESSEN was lecturer at the Laboratory for Analytical Chemistry at the University of Amsterdam and a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of Spectrochimica Acta B. His career has born a heavy stamp of analytical chemistry, from its very start onwards. He began as a technical assistant in analytical chemistry (in Dutch then called “analyst”) at an agricultural test station and worked subsequently in an institute for fundamental research of matter and thereafter in the municipal power station in

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Amsterdam. From there he switched to the Laboratory for Analytical Chemistry at the University of Amsterdam, where he became my personal assistant immediately after I had obtained my Ph.D. on 15 November 1961. He then worked in day-time with me in atomic spectroscopy and studied chemistry during his spare time at night and in the weekends. These efforts eventually resulted in a bachelor’s degree in 1969 and a master’s degree in 1970, both granted cum laude. He obtained his Ph.D. in 1974, on a thesis “Some aspects of spectrochemical trace analysis with the direct current arc”. From then onwards he has been the project supervisor of the work on atomic spectrometry in the Laboratory for Analytical Chemistry. He has authored or co-authored 57 scientific publications and supervised nine Ph.D. studies on topics in atomic spectroscopy, ranging from fundamental studies on excitation processes to statistical evaluation and HPLC-ICP coupling. In recent years he has become known in particular for his studies on the introduction of non- aqueous aerosols into the ICP. Twenty-three of his publications have appeared in Spectrochimica Acta B; one is in the press.

FRANS MAESSEN was a man with many capabilities, with an admirable tenacity and perseverance, a critical and refreshingly pragmatic look at many matters, and with an unsurpassed devotion to science, atomic spectroscopy, and publishing. He went a very long and very difficult way to achieve what he eventually did achieve: a recognized position on the world forum of science and scientists. He had a profound interest in what he did, and he did it because he enjoyed it. Unfortunately, during the last live years of his life in particular, his health prevented him from participating in international conferences or even national meetings. He was bound to his apartment and his laboratory, but, in spite of these and many other boundary conditions, he continued his research and continued communi- cating the results of this research by writing his papers. As one of his associates told me on the eve of the funeral: “He died in harness”.

FRANS MAESSEN was not only a remarkable scientist, who pursued the truth, all those who have known him will remember him as a congenial and sociable person, with whom you could share a dinner, a drink, or a conversation. It was a pleasure to meet him and to feel his warm interest in the subjects and the persons with whom he discussed them. His interests went far beyond spectroscopy and analytical chemistry and embraced line arts, history, and literature as well.

I have been privileged to have known him for so many years and to have worked with him so closely, in particular during the years of my stay at the university: 1961-1968. Not only did he essentially contribute to the experimental work, he also acted as my “mirror” and “sounding-board”. It was at that time that I was writing the book on the “Theory of Spectrochemical Excitation” and thus struggled with a vast number of problems. When I had formulated what I thought I had understood and mastered, I explained the subject matter to him, upon which he always responded with the right questions, which, in turn, have induced me to many reformulations. It has been only much later that I have fully realized myself the crucial part that Frans Maessen must have played in the shaping of my thoughts that eventually shaped the book. I owe him a lot for his patience and indefatigability as a critical listener, his keen insight and persistence as a debater, and his numerous hidden or secret contributions to the book and much of my work that followed thereafter.

Analytical chemistry has lost a true “analytical chemist”, perhaps one of the few of a dying race. The scientific community has lost a man who was capable of contributing something, who wanted to contribute more than “something”, and who did it with interest,

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enthusiasm, commitment, and dedication. Let us remember him above all as a friend and as a uniquely honest and uniquely modest person. Unfortunately, in today’s society, this uniqueness has also been his greatest handicap, in particular during the last few years of his life.

PAUL BOUMANS Editor-in-Chief