Marcos Nogueira Eberlin
The Power List 2020 – South America
MackMass Laboratory, School of Engineering, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, São Paulo, Brazil
Reasons for pursuing analytical science: The universe is made of atoms and molecules; everything is chemistry. But to act as a chemist, to have the power to transform our world, to create new materials and to rule over molecules, we must characterize and measure them with the greatest possible sensitivity, speed and selectivity. This crucial role of analytical science in allowing us to best transform matter in favor of mankind was my main motivation for pursuing MS.
Future of the field: Compact, robust and easy-to-operate mass spectrometers will be everywhere, constituting major analytical tools in hospitals, clinics, and doctors’ offices, as well as being central to the monitoring of air and water quality, drug screening, airport security, adulteration in food, pharmaceuticals and cosmetic products.
Dinner party guest: I would select J. J. Thomson, the father of MS, the man who discovered the electron, and the 1906 Nobel prize winner in physics. I myself have won the Thomson medal and I’d love to tell him how I was inspired by his work.
