Inventor Name
Savitzky, Abraham
Repository
Chemical Heritage Foundation
Othmer Library
315 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
215-873-8265
http://othmerlib.chemheritage.org
Physical Description
2.75 linear feet
Summary
Abraham Savitzky was born on 29 May 1919 in New York, New York. He received his bachelor degree from the New York State College for Teachers in 1941. After serving in the United States Air Force during World War II, he obtained a master’s degree and Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Columbia University in 1947 and 1949 respectively. In 1950, after working at Columbia for a year as a research associate in electron microscopy, he began a long career with the Perkin-Elmer Corporation. Savitzky started with Perkin-Elmer as a staff scientist who was chiefly concerned with design and development of infrared instruments. He rapidly moved up the ranks in the corporation. By 1956, he was named Perkin-Elmer’s new product coordinator for the Instrument Division, and as the years passed, he continued to gain more and more recognition for his work in the company. Most of his work with Perkin-Elmer focused on computer-aided analytical chemistry, data reduction, infrared spectroscopy, time-sharing systems, and computer plotting. He retired from Perkin-Elmer in 1985. Following his retirement, Savitzky became the president of Silvermine Resources, where he remained for several years. Abraham Savitzky holds seven U.S. patents pertaining to computerization and chemical apparatus. During his long career, he presented numerous papers and wrote several manuscripts, including “Smoothing and Differentiation of Data by Simplified Least Squares Procedures.” This paper, which is the collaborative effort of Savitzky and Marcel J. E. Golay, was published in Volume 36 of Analytical Chemistry, July 1964. It is one of the most famous, respected, and heavily cited articles in its field. In recognition of his many significant accomplishments in the field of analytical chemistry and computer science, Savitzky received the Society of Applied Spectroscopy Award in 1983 and the Williams-Wright Award from the Coblenz Society in 1986. In addition, Savitzky was a member of the American Chemical Society, the American Physics Society, the Optical Society of America, and many other professional organizations. He died in 1999. The papers of Abraham Savitzky offer a glimpse into the life and work of one of the pioneers in computer-aided analytical chemistry. Though there are only 2.75 linear feet of paper archives, this collection provides a significant body of information on Abraham Savitzky’s professional career. His work with computers and infrared spectroscopy is well represented. Correspondence with Marcel Golay concerning their historic collaboration is present. As there was no clear organization to the collection when it came to CHF, Savitzky’s papers have been organized into nine series based on type of material. These series are as follows: I. Honors, II. Presentations, III. Manuscripts, IV. Patents, V. Projects, VI. Reports, V.Research, VI. Data, VII. Correspondence. Within each series, items have been arranged chronologically to provide the researcher with an accurate perception of the way in which Savitzky’s career and projects progressed. Items not labeled with a date have been placed at the end of each series.
Finding Aid
http://othmerlib.chemheritage.org/search/?searchtype=a&searcharg=savitzky
