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EDITORS'

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τ: ΊΗΕ ANACHEMS of Detroit have celebrated their silver anniver­

sary of notable service to the profes­sion of analytical chemistry with an impressive technical program and the presentation of the fourteenth annual Anachem Award to Dr. Ralph G. Smith (see 59 A) .

The beginnings of the Anachem Society are interesting, for they af­ford an understanding of the tre­mendous progress that has been made in the intervening twenty-five years toward establishing analyti­cal chemistry on a firm, competitive footing with the other, more popu­lous branches of the science.

In 1941 there was virtually no group with which analytical chem­ists as a whole could meet to discuss mutual problems and present papers of interest to their colleagues. This was true despite the formation of the Microchemical Division of the American Chemical Society a few years before, because this group was just beginning the process of evolv­ing into the Analytical Chemistry Division of the ACS.

Therefore, it was with considera­ble zeal, and probably some appre­hension, that twenty analytical chemists met on August 6, 1941, at the Engineering Society of Detroit building, to form the Anachem So­ciety. At this critical time, the unions (notably CIO, and to some extent, AFL) were anxious to enlist analytical chemists in their ranks— and they insisted on an "hourly rate" and compulsory membership in the union. Despite this stum­bling block, and accusations that the group was formed as a bargain­ing unit for local analytical chem­ists, plans were forged for continu­ing the Society, with regular meet­ings and a newsletter. The first meeting was held in October 1941, -< Circle No. 148 on Readers' Service Card

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V O L 3 9 , N O . 1 3, NOVEMBER 1 9 6 7 · 9 3 A

EDITORS' COLUMN

and the first regularly scheduled meeting was in January 1942. Since then, regular meetings have been held (with few exceptions) on the first Monday of each month, September through May.

The Society grew rapidly at first, and members were from all sections of the country. As the ACS Ana­lytical Division gradually came into being, however, membership in the Anachems stabilized, and gradually became mostly made up of analyti­cal chemists from the Detroit area. Of course, this did not deter their activities or national recognition. Especially since the institution of the annual Anachem Conference in 1953, the Society's star has been rising. Past recipients of the Ana­chem Award have included such dis­tinguished analytical chemists as H. H. Willard, University of Michi­gan; M. G. Mellon, Purdue Univer­sity; W. G. Frederick, Detroit De­partment of Health; P. J. Elving, University of Michigan; C. M. Gambrill, Ethyl Corporation; G. F. Smith, University of Illinois; H. A. Bright, National Bureau of Stan­dards; I. M. Kolthoff, University of Minnesota; P. K. Winter, General Motors Corporation; A. A. Bene-detti-Pichler, Queens College; L. T. Hallett, former Editor of ANALYTI­CAL CHEMISTRY; J. L. Hague, Na­tional Bureau of Standards ; and H. C. Diehl, Iowa State University. Professor Diehl's award address ap­peared as the March 1967 "Report for Analytical Chemists," and Dr. Ralph Smith's address will appear as a feature article in a forthcom­ing issue of the Journal.

The Anachem's continuing efforts to expand and improve their annual programs have met with good suc­cess. This year's conference em­braced a variety of topics of current interest such as air and water pollu­tion, biological analysis, various phases of atomic absorption spec-The Editors salute these efforts of an organization that has, for a quar­ter of a century, given unwavering support to the professional advance­ment of analytical chemists.

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