December 11, 2021
Today in 1939, analytical chemist John W. Macklin was born. Macklin refined the technique of Raman spectrometry to test very small sample sizes. In the 1980s, he collaborated with NASA scientists to analyze meteorites and cosmic dust particles looking for complex carbon-based molecules.
A close-up view of an engineering model of SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals), one the instruments aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover. SHERLOC uses Raman spectrometry to learn about Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech