Chemical Analysis Innovation

"Pioneering work in inductively coupled plasma spectroscopy at Iowa State led to an analysis tool that's standard in thousands of laboratories worldwide. Developed in 1966 by professor and Ames Laboratory deputy director Velmer Fassel, ICP instruments rapidly determine almost all elements to the parts per trillion level in substances such as oil, blood, and soils. In 1982, the analysis tool identified the poison in contaminated Tylenol pain medicine that caused seven deaths."

Photo Credit: Iowa State University

Submitted by

Bryan Arnold

@nanowhiskers