Peter T. Kissinger

Meet Peter T. Kissinger

The point of analytical science is to uncover data that enables a better understanding of nature and better informed decisions for industry, medicine, and government. The former objective often uncovers new measurement principles that later enable the more goal oriented tasks yet to come. With respect to the latter, we often apply the “technology” label. Goals must be set with respect to the use of the data, how good it must be, who will collect it and where. Analytical chemists understand the requirements for precision, accuracy, speed, and cost. The art requires tradeoffs among these objectives. The perfect will undermine the good enough. The term “analytical chemist” covers a wide range of responsibilities. Often we are in the middle, between defining a problem and handing off a result to others. Regardless of our position, we respect the process. Those in the middle should understand the objectives. Those at the end should understand the methodology. All should be transparent so that trust can be achieved. Lives and money can depend on data. Trust but validate.