Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy

Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy

Atomic absorption, along with atomic emission, was first used by Guystav Kirch- hoff and Robert Bunsen in 1859 and 1860, as a means for the qualitative identifica- tion of atoms. Although atomic emission continued to develop as an analytical technique, progress in atomic absorption languished for almost a century. Modern atomic absorption spectroscopy was introduced in 1955 as a result of the indepen- dent work of A. Walsh and C. T. J. Alkemade. Commercial instruments were in place by the early 1960s, and the importance of atomic absorption as an analytical technique was soon evident.