6 JOURNAL OF ANALYTICAL ATOMIC SPECTROMETRY, FEBRUARY 1986, VOL. 1 Historical Corner The Origin of Spectra. Who was First? The explanation of such a striking natural phenomenon as the colours of the rain- bow had naturally occupied the minds of philosophers for many centuries when Isaac Newton, then Professor of Math- ematics in Cambridge University, des- cribed in his letter to the Royal Society in 1672 (Phil. Trans. R. Soc., 1672, No. 80, 3075), his experiments on the production of coloured spectra by glass prisms. In this paper, which is a model of logical thought and lucid exposition, he concluded that “Light consists of rays differently refrang- ible” and that “As the rays of light differ in degrees of refrangibility so they also differ in their disposition to exhibit this or that colour.” In the same paper he made use of his conclusions to explain “Why the colours of the rainbow appear in falling drops of rain.” Newton, with this paper, is generally regarded as the father of spec- troscopy and certainly as the first to explain the spectral properties of light in a comprehensive fashion.Yet the experi- ments Newton used to demonstrate these points had largely been performed much earlier by Ioannes Marcus Marci of Kron- land (1595-1667), Professor of Medicine at Prague University. In his book “Thau- rnantias. Liber de arcu coelesti deque colorurn apparentiurn natura ortu et cau- sis,” published as early as 1648, he also explained “the origin of the rainbow by the diffraction and reflection of light on drops of water.” Marcus Marci’s life and work are briefly reviewed in the booklet edited by M.Vobecky, “The Czechoslo- vak Spectroscopic Society by the Czecho- slovak Academy of Sciences, 1949-84,” Prague 1984, from which the above quota- tion and photograph are reproduced with their kind permission. Although priority in many respects must go therefore to Marci, Newton’s studies clarified the concepts and in par- ticular he performed the crucial further experiment of recombining the dispersed coloured spectrum to reproduce white light. Newton’s contribution to a com- prehensive understanding of the nature of light and the production of spectra by refraction must still be regarded as semi- nal but we should accord some of the credit to the less well known Ioannes Marcus Marci of Kronland.Two members of the JAAS Advisory Ioannes Marcus Marci of Kronland Plaque Board, Sir Alan Walsh and Professor T. S. West have been awarded the Ioannes Marcus Marci of Kronland plaque by the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences for their services to spectro- scopy. The latest spectroscopist to receive this honour is Professor C. L. Chakrabarti of Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. Allan M. Ure Macaulay Institute, A berdeen, UK ASU Highlights The ASU review in this issue is the first of an annual series aimed at keeping the analyst abreast of the latest developments and applications of atomic spectrometric techniques in environmental analysis. The sample types covered include air and atmospheric particulates, waters, soils, plants, fertilisers and related materials. Over the past 12 months, growth of interest in speciation has been high- lighted, reflecting both improved detec- tability for many elements and an increas- ing awareness of the power of hybrid techniques, particularly of atomic spec- trometry coupled with chromatography. Direct analysis of environmental materials (with minimal or no sample pre-treatment) is also attracting consider- able attention, although many improved conventional sample preparation proce- dures have also been suggested. Platform- in-furnace and Zeeman background cor- rection techniques are .now being more widely used in AAS in routine analytical laboratories. Flow injection is also mak- ing its presence more and more felt where rapid sample throughput is deemed neces- sary, and is increasingly seen as a viable approach to rapid sample pre-treatment prior to atomisation/excitation. Malcolm S. Cresser University of Aberdeen, UK