Jean-Michel forever†
José-Luis Todolí
Department of Analytical Chemistry, Bromatology and Food Sciences, University of Alicante, 03080, Alicante, Spain
‘Science is connections and leakages’ (Jean-Michel Mermet, many times)—this short and representative sentence demonstrates in a very simple way the ability of Professor Mermet to transform the most difficult practical problem in an anecdote with an obvious solution. Professor Mermet has been and still is one of the most influential scientists on the routine work of plasma use and research throughout the world. I would also like to take this opportunity to express, on behalf of all the scientists who have met him, our gratitude for his tremendous contribution to our science. As Professor Diane Beauchemin says talking about Jean-Michel, ‘There is a kind man who took such a rigorous look at ICP optical emission spectroscopy that he made it a robust technique and continues to promote it: ICP-OES est sa vie!’
Jean-Michel Mermet was born in Lyon, France in 1942. He conducted his graduate degree 22 years later at the University of Strasbourg and one year later he received the diploma of the Chemistry School. He was appointed by the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) as a Research Associate in 1966. This was an important year in his career, because he switched on his first plasma (6 kW rf power, 1.4 MHz frequency) and he started an intense collaboration with Dr Trassy. He worked at the National Institute for Applied Sciences where he stayed until 1980. Nine years after his graduation, he received his doctor's degree in chemistry from the University of Lyon on the subject of ‘Spectroscopic diagnostics of high frequency plasmas’. The legend was born. In order to carry out his PhD studies, he did one of the so-called “Thèse d'État”. To understand its importance it should be taken into account that in France there were two kinds of PhD: the third cycle Thesis that consisted of original research subjects and a duration of no more than three years; and the Thèse d'État in which very wide and ambitious projects were undertaken. This kind of research lasted from 5 to 10 years after the third cycle Thesis. In 1981 he gained a promotion to Research Director, a position that he kept until 2004 when he officially retired.
Post-doctoral studies were completed in 1977 at the University of Florida with Professor J. D. Winefordner. The main subject of his post-doc was laser atomic and molecular fluorescence spectrometry. In 1980, he was involved in the creation of a research group on inductively coupled plasma and microwave induced plasmas within the frame of the CNRS where the association with Emmanuelle Poussel started in 1984. In 1985 he gained his promotion to CNRS Research Director and he became Director of the Laboratory of Analytical Sciences at the University of Lyon.
Summarizing Jean-Michels' CV we can find that, so far, he has co-authored a total of 235 publications (including 169 articles in scientific journals, 39 review papers, 15 extended proceedings and 12 book chapters). He has presented 388 talks (138 being invited lectures). He has also been co-author of two books.
Professor Mermet has been involved in very different research subjects (J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 1996, 11, 37N (DOI: 10.1039/JA99611037Na)). As can be observed from Table 1, some of the listed subjects have been highly interesting for plasma spectroscopy. Fig. 1 shows the variation of the number of papers published per year. This spectrum shows about 10 more or less defined peaks, although the most intense ones were those achieved in 1997 and 2000 with a ‘net signal’ of roughly 2 to 6 times higher than those of the remaining peaks. In fact these were the most productive years in terms of number of published papers; laser ablation, non-spectral interferences and fundamental studies with CCD detectors in ICP-AES being the studied subjects. It is also remarkable that, although Jean-Michel’s research subjects have changed throughout the years, he has also kept some of them for his entire career. Liquid sample introduction systems and plasma fundamentals have been his most favourite subjects (at least in terms of number of papers). Indeed, his first paper in 1968 was devoted to the development of a new ultrasonic nebulizer for rapid liquid sample analysis that was patented. Interestingly, in this JAAS issue he is the co-author of a paper in which an ultrasonic nebulizer is used for the silicon determination in xylene solutions. The same could be said for studies related to plasma fundamentals. In 1973 he first published a study related to this interesting subject in which the Abel inversion procedure was used to elucidate the temperature mapping in inductively coupled plasma. In 2006 he co-authored a work related to the introduction of solvent vapour into an ICP.
| Subject |
|---|
| Plasma fundamentals including mass spectrometry |
| Lasers and laser ablation |
| Interferences in ICP-AES |
| Sample introduction systems (including torch design) |
| Determination of analytical figures of merit and chemometrics |
| Thermal lens |
| Optical systems and detectors (i.e., fundamental studies with CCD) |
| Applications (analysis of organic as well as inorganic samples) |
| Hyphenated techniques |
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| Fig. 1 Number of papers published by Jean-Michel Mermet per year. | ||
A large part of the studies carried out by Jean-Michel Mermet have been focused on plasma emission spectrometry. Virtually every component of an ICP-AES spectrometer has benefited from his influence. He has been involved in developing new instrumentation for liquid sample introduction and torches as well as the testing of already existing systems. He has also undertaken fundamental studies related to every step the sample suffers from its aspiration to the analyte atomization, ionization and excitation. He has enlarged other fields, i.e., laser ablation of difficult solid samples such as polymers. In 1997, a series of three papers on this subject was awarded as the best articles published in Spectrochimica Acta, Part B. In this case, issues such as the fundamentals of UV and IR laser ablation of plastics and the effect of the polymer nature and additive chemical form on the instrumental performance were first evaluated. Additionally, he has also been creative in fields such as microwave-induced plasmas (MIP), hollow-cathode plasmas and laser-produced plasmas (LPP) obtained by absorption of photons on a solid target.
By asking him about the most significant papers in his view and, by the way, putting him into an embarrassing situation, I obtained the following answer:
1. Influence of the dispersive system in inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry, J. W. McLaren and J. M. Mermet, Spectrochim. Acta, Part B, 1984, 39, 1307–1322. Because this study highlighted the consequences of high resolution for line separation (e.g. As 228.812–Cd 228.802), signal-to-background ratio and signal-to-noise ratio.
2. Comparison between infrared and ultraviolet laser ablation at atmospheric pressure—implications for solid sampling inductively coupled plasma spectrometry, C. Geertsen, A. Briand, F. Chartier, J. L. Lacour, P. Mauchien, S. Sjöström and J. M. Mermet, J. Anal. Atom. Spectrom., 1994, 9, 17–22. This was a pioneering work on the influence of the role of the laser wavelength on ablation processes and consequences of the use of UV on efficiency of ablation, reproducibility, matrix effects and sensitivity.
3. ICP emission spectrometers: 1995 Figures of merit, J. M. Mermet and E. Poussel, Appl. Spectrosc., 1995, 49, 12A–18A. This paper presents simplified diagnostics to provide a fair estimation of the analytical performance of ICP-AES systems. This paper made use of previously published paper on resolution, drift, Mg ratio… It should be noted that the figures of merit quoted in this paper are in no way old fashioned.
4. Simultaneous measurements of signal and background in inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry: effects on precision, limit of detection and limit of quantitation, E. Poussel and J. M. Mermet, Spectrochim. Acta, Part B, 1996, 51, 75–85. Following the Horwitz's approach, establishment of the relationship of the RSD of the net signal with concentration when moving to the limit of detection, and benefit of time correlation to improve limits of detection and of quantitation.
5. New torch design with an in-built chamber for liquid sample analysis in ICP-AES, J. L. Todolí and J. M. Mermet, J. Anal. Atom. Spectrom., 2002, 17, 345–351. A simple, compact and efficient total-consumption system, with improved analytical performance was developed.
The quality of his contributions led Jean-Michel to receive several awards (see Table 2). Furthermore, he was included in the scientific boards of eleven journals (Table 3). Particularly interesting was his relationship with the Royal Society of Chemistry. It is highly relevant that he was the first non-British researcher included on the Editorial board of an RSC journal. This revolution can be attributed to JAAS thanks to John Ottaway, one of the inspirers of JAAS (J. M. Harnly, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2006, 21, 111 (DOI: 10.1039/b600105j)). Together with Judith Egan (Fig. 2), the first JAAS Editor, he played a fundamental role in the development of this journal in its early days. Judith Egan also gave interesting information about the relationship of Professor Mermet with JAAS. According to her, Jean-Michel was very involved in the launch and initial success of JAAS. At the time, many scientists from Eastern Europe were beginning to communicate their work in journals and at conferences. A paper from a scientist from the former East Germany was sent to Jean-Michel to referee. The second referee reported back that unfortunately as the English was so bad, he could not understand what was actually being reported, and so the paper should be rejected. However, Jean-Michel could see the important science behind the words, and felt we should encourage these scientists as much as possible. In order to help the author, he proceeded to re-write the paper in slow, painful stages to French–English, he sent it back to Judith who edited it into English–English, then returned it to Jean-Michel to re-check. This happened two or three times, and this was in the days before email or even fax! Referees often help authors, but this instance was way beyond what could possibly be expected, and an excellent paper resulted from scientists who were doing the best work they could with the resources available to them. Tremendous support such as this shows how Jean-Michel always had time to help his fellow scientists. In 2005, when he was officially retired he asked to be removed from the JAAS Advisory Board. A couple of years later he was asked to come back and currently he is included on this board (Table 3).
| 1977, Award of the French group for Analytical Sciences (GAMS). |
| 1990, Award (Grand Prix Sue) of the French Chemical Society. |
| 1992, Award in Spectrochemistry of the Analytical Chemistry Division of the American Chemical Society. |
| 1994, Johannes Marcus Marci Medal of the Johannes Marcus Marci Spectroscopic Society, Czech Republic. |
| 1997, Theophilus Redwood Lectureship, Royal Society of Chemistry. |
| 1998, Spectrochimica Acta Atomic Spectroscopy Award 1996, awarded for a series of three papers. |
| 1999, Lavoisier Medal, French Chemical Society (Société Française de Chimie). |
| 2004, Special Honorary Symposium, 50th International Conference on Analytical Sciences and Spectroscopy, Halifax (Canada), 15–18 August 2004. |
| 2005, European Award on Plasma Spectrochemistry. |
| Analusis, Advisory Board, 1985–1996. |
| Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, Advisory Board, 2002–2004. |
| Analytical Methods and Instrumentation, Advisory Board, 1993–1995. |
| Analytical Sciences, Advisory Board, 2000–present. |
| Applied Spectroscopy, Assistant European Editor, 1987–1993, European Editor for Atomic Spectroscopy, 1994, Advisory Board, 1995–1997. |
| Applied Spectroscopy Reviews, Editorial Board, 1981–1993. |
| Fresenius' Journal of Analytical Chemistry, Editorial Board, 1999–2001. |
| Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry, Editorial Board, 1987–1994, Advisory Board, 1995–2005, 2008–present. |
| Spectrochimica Acta, Part B, Advisory Board, 1983–1993. |
| Spectrochimica Acta Electronica, Advisory Board, 1992–1998. |
| Spectrochimica Acta Reviews, Executive Editor, 1990–1993, Editor, 1994–present. |
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| Fig. 2 Jean-Michel discussing editorial matters with Judith at CSI Toronto, 1987. Courtesy of Judith Egan. | ||
Regarding the lectures he has given, many of the readers of this Editorial will remember him as an excellent communicator. Additionally, within the field, he has contributed to some of the most relevant meetings in the world as Chairman or Organizer (Table 4). There are much evidence of his disposition to contribute and to help colleagues organizing meetings. Judith Egan gave me an example: At a conference in Plymouth, one of the Plenary Lecturers had to drop out at the last minute. Initially Jean-Michel could not come to the conference as he was on holiday. However, not wanting to see the whole meeting struggle without one of its major speakers, Jean-Michel caught an overnight ferry from where he was on holiday in France, to Plymouth, gave his lecture, he then stayed up late with his colleagues in a bar (or disco) as he had to catch the return ferry early the next morning to resume his holiday with his family.
| Symposium on Instrument Developments Still Needed in ICP-AES, FACSS Meeting, Fort Lauderdale, USA, 2003. |
| Symposium on Matrix effects in ICP-AES and MS, FACSS Meeting, Providence, USA, 2002. |
| Symposium on Atomic Spectrometry: Instrumentation, Methodologies and Quality Assurance, ForumLABO 2002, Paris, 2002. |
| Symposium on Quality Assurance and Validation of Methods in Analytical Chemistry, ForumLABO 2002, Paris, 2002. |
| Symposium on Quality in Analytical Atomic Spectrometry, FACSS Meeting, Detroit, USA, 2001. |
| Symposium on Laser-based Analytical Atomic Spectrometry, FACSS Meeting, Detroit, USA, 2001. |
| Symposium on Time-of-flight Mass Spectrometry, Salon du Laboratoire, Paris, 2001. |
| Symposium on Instrumentation in Elemental Spectrometry, ForumLABO 2000, Paris, 2000. |
| Workshop on Development and Validation of Laser Ablation Based Analytical Technologies in Support to Industrial and Research Needs, Lyon, 1999 (SMT and ECSC programs of the European Commission). |
| Co-founder of the Mediterranean Basin Conference on Analytical Chemistry (Cordoba 1995, Rabat 1997, Turkey 2000, Slovenia 2002). |
| SpectroGams 90, Angers, France, 1990. |
| Symposium on Excitation Mechanisms in Plasmas, FACSS Meeting, Chicago, USA, 1989. |
| 1987 European Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry, Lyon, France. |
| 1985 European Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry, Leysin, Switzerland. |
| Workshop on Plasma Mechanisms, 1982 Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry, Orlando (USA), Jan. 1982. |
| Scientific Counsellor, currently Total, CEA (Centre d'Etudes Atomiques) and Horiba. |
| Scientific Committee of the French National Bureau of Metrology, 1998–2001, Scientific and Technological Committee, 2001–2004. |
| Scientific and Technological Committee for the Nuclear Fuel Cycle, 1998–2000. |
| Committee on Earth Science Technology, Geological Survey (Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières), 1989–1991. |
| Committee for Instrumentation, French Minister for Research, 1984–1985, 1989–1991. |
| Expert for the 1997 ‘Training and Mobility for Researchers Program’ of the European Community. |
| Expert for the 1992 proposals on ‘Novel Form of Instrumentation’ (Bureau Communautaire de Références) |
| Chairman of the Analytical Chemistry Division of the French Chemical Society, 1991–1993 |
| Chairman of the Atomic Emission Spectroscopy Commission of the French Group for Analytical Sciences (GAMS), 1987–1993; Chairman, Spectrochemistry Commission (V.4), International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), 1985–1991. |
Conferences have been, as expected, an excellent way to meet Professor Mermet and a source of many anecdotes. For example, Professor Gary Heiftje stated that in the 1977 Colloquium Spectroscopcium Internationale (CSI) he formally met Jean-Michel while they tried to cook raw chicken with only marginal success. Fig. 3 shows these two good friends, one in front of the other working very hard. Furthermore, as an organizer he was very good. Many of you may remember the Winter Plasma Conference in Lyon. As verified by this guest editor ‘This event went down in history as the best conference banquet ever’, Judith Egan says. The 1987 Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry was organized by Jean-Michel in collaboration with Jassens and Nicolo Omenetto (J. M. Mermet, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 1987, 2, 511 (DOI: 10.1039/JA9870200511)). Jean-Michel had tasted all the food, and planned everything to produce the most spectacular evening. Fig. 4 is proof of this hard task. The location was magical, the food and wine were amazing, with a spectacular cake (Fig. 4), and the whole atmosphere was just perfect. Who else but Jean-Michel could have produced this memorable evening? Other colleagues (and friends) such as Gary Hieftje (Fig. 3) made similar comments on this event. The scientific success of this conference was also remarkable as is shown by the following figures (220 participants, 13 invited lectures and 98 contributions). A selection of 23 papers was first published in JAAS. No less relevant was his participation in the 1st Mediterranean Basin Conference on Analytical Chemistry in 1995 held in Cordoba, Spain. The success of this meeting led to further editions of this meeting in Mediterranean countries (J. M. Mermet, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 1996, 11, 2N (DOI: 10.1039/JA99611002Na)).
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| Fig. 3 Professor Jean-Michel Mermet discussing science with his colleagues. Courtesy of Professor Olivier Donard. | ||
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| Fig. 4 Professor Mermet taking care of his guest scientists at the 1987 European Winter Conference held in Lyon. Courtesy of Judith Egan and Professor Ramon Barnes. | ||
To his students, Monsieur Mermet was a very special mentor, always trying to make people use their brain. As a mentor, he was an extremely patient person (trust me, I know this very well). He always gave the clues to find out the perfectly fitted experiment to prove an hypothesis or to give an explanation for a striking trend (he was always open to unusual trends). Monsieur Mermet was someone that gave us the freedom to decide what experiments and how to do them. On this subject, he allowed students not to follow the pre-established working plan. Furthermore, there never was any problem with the timetable (a utopia for a Spaniard!) so every student could work as conditioned by the experiment. When someone arrived at his lab he or she could use all the instrumentation without any problem or even without any previous discussion or request. The first day I arrived at his lab he showed me all the instrumentation and told me ‘now you can start’. What is the first thing I am going to do? I said, ‘whatever you prefer’ he answered. In fact, his laboratory was a researchers' and research supervisors' school. It is also important to say that the discussions with him were always (and still are) very exciting and fruitful.
Professor Mermet has always shown a teaching vocation. In fact he has been involved in the Working Party on Analytical Chemistry (WPAC) of the Federation of European Chemical Societies (FECS), 1992–1994, then the Division of Analytical Chemistry of the FECS, 1996–2000. As a result of his activities within this organization he was co-editor of the book entitled “Analytical Chemistry. The Approved Text to the FECS Curriculum Analytical Chemistry” and its second edition “Analytical Chemistry. A Modern Approach to Analytical Science”. This is a textbook that is intended for undergraduate students in Europe. He has been (and still is) involved in teaching short courses at conferences. Some of us can remember at least one of the eight excellent courses he has given many times in different meetings. As Dr Philippe Bienvenu says ‘Jean-Michel is an outstanding teacher who is known for sharing both his knowledge and his passion for analytical chemistry’.
Specially relevant has been his support for young scientists. He has always indicated that young scientists must be increasingly involved in research subjects related to ICP spectrochemistry (M. Resano, Spectrochim. Acta, Part B, 2004, 54, 399). Here is the first sentence Jean-Michel included in his Report on the 1st Mediterranean Basin Conference on Analytical Chemistry: ‘The conference was aimed at promoting international collaboration amongst the analysts present and at offering training and new research opportunities to the young scientists and students of the South and East Rim of the Mediterranean Sea’ (J. M. Mermet, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 1996, 11, 2N (DOI: 10.1039/JA99611002Na)). There is no doubt about his support for young people.
Because of his clear vision of the role of the researcher, he has always worked closely with industry. It is worth mentioning the relationship that has existed between Jean-Michel Mermet and the private instrumentation companies such as ARL, GBC, Horiba Jobin-Yvon, Meinhard, Nermag, Perkin-Elmer, Philips, Prolabo, Spectro Analytical, Thermo (TJA and VG Elemental), Varian, Cetac, Glass Expansion.
However, the professional life of Jean-Michel is in continuous evolution, because since 2005 he has been a consultant of a company he has created (Spectroscopy Forever). Currently, he is involved in validation of analytical methods, development of sample introduction systems, laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) (A. Semerok and P. Mauchien, Spectrochim. Acta, Part B, 2008, 63, 997) and instrument specification and development with the Horiba Jovin-Ybon company. In addition, he is on the Advisory Board of Spectrochimica Acta Reviews and Analytical Sciences. Talking more about the future, in a very interesting perspective article (J. M. Mermet, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2005, 20, 11 (DOI: 10.1039/b416511j)), Jean-Michel has given us his own perception about the current and future status of atomic (emission) plasma spectroscopy. According to him, it is necessary to carry out additional research in ICP-AES. These include from plasma generation and sample introduction to photon collection and detection. Another interesting idea is that studies on ICP-MS could take full benefit from the research work carried out in the ICP-AES field. To highlight these points we should recall the title of his last lecture in French given in Pau in 2005: ‘Recherche en Spectrométrie d'Emission ICP: utopie ou besoin réel?’
Proof of this, though, could be the result of the ‘poetry award’ specially created for this Editorial. Here is the winning thought together with its author:
Spectrochemist Jean-Michel says:
‘You must understand plasmas
If you just detect with MS,
you get into a mess.
Use ES and conditions robust’
Julian F. Tyson 2009
Concluding this adventure I must thank all the contributors to this special tribute to the career of Jean-Michel. It is also my duty to deeply thank those of you who have participated in this Editorial by the submission of either pictures or sentences. I would like to finish this Editorial with a comment made by Professor Ralph Sturgeon on Jean-Michel that I think is representative of his personality and attitude: ‘He has been a true friend and always available whenever there was a question to be answered or advice to be given. He never criticized nor demeaned anyone no matter how silly their question. He forged many trails and left large footprints through the landscape of analytical atomic spectroscopy which made subsequent travels for others much easier.’ And having the non-deserved Guest Editor honour I would like to say looking at Fig. 5: Jean-Michel we will never forget you.
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| Fig. 5 Jean-Michel surrounded by his scientist friends (as usual) at the European Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry 2003 held in Garmisch (Bavarian Evening). Courtesy of Professor Klaus Heumann. | ||
Footnote |
| † Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Photographs of Jean-Michel Mermet throughout his career. See DOI: 10.1039/b903679m |
| This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2009 |