Science is a uniquely human endeavor. But what makes humans become scientists? About 50 years ago, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and related techniques in separation science burst over the horizon, attracting interest from many gifted scientists. Over the next decade or so, a small cohort of scientists devoted their careers to understanding and advancing separation science – predominately liquid chromatography. The literature since then provides a history of the technical evolution of separation science, but one that is impersonal and largely ignores the many personal trials and tribulations that shaped the work. Each of these innovative individuals invested decades of their lives into advancing separation science. But what motivated them to make this choice? What hurdles did they face and overcome? These are the human challenges that we all face in our lives. And it was this largely unpublished story that the three of us began to ponder in early 2015, eventually leading us to solicit personal biographies from some of the talented scientists who were influential in advancing our understanding of HPLC.

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About the Authors

Lloyd Snyder

Lloyd Snyder has received national and international recognition for his wide-ranging contributions to chromatography, especially HPLC. He has twice been recognized by the American Chemical Society and received The Lifetime Achievement in Chromatography Award from LCGC magazine in 2012. “I first encountered gas chromatography in 1955, then switched to liquid chromatography in 1957, and HPLC, the premier technique for chemical analysis, in 1966,” he recalls. Snyder, who recently retired after a research career that spanned 60 years, spent his entire career in industry; the first half at four different companies, and the second at LC Resources, which he co-founded in 1984. During that time he authored or co-authored over 300 publications and nine books.

Frank Svec

Frantisek Svec lives in California and is Professor in Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, China and in Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Charles University, Hradec Králové, Czech Republic.

Robert Stevenson

Robert Stevenson is Editor Emeritus, American Laboratory/Labcompare, USA.