Modern Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry

Itzhak Thomas Platzner is chief chemist and head of the mass spectrometry laboratory at the Nuclear Research Center-Negev (NRCN), Israel. He received his PhD from the Weizmann Institute of Science,Israel in 1966 in photochemistry and spectroscopy of phosphorus compounds,for which he gained his first experience in isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS). Since he established the mass spectrometry laboratory at NRCN in 1967, he has worked extensively in isotope ration analysis. His current research interests include IRMS of solids and gases and applications of ICP-MS to IRMS. In between leading the mass spectrometry laboratory at NRCN, he has spent several sabbatical years abroad. In 1973 he spent a year at the University of Notre Dame in the US where he worked on radiolysis and laser photochemistry of organic compounds. In 1981 he returned to the US to spend a year at the University of Minnesota where he worked on plasma chemistry and ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry. At VG Elemental, UK, in 1992, he worked on the development and applications of a double focusing, multiple collector ICP-MS. In 1993 he spent a year in Italy where he worked on quadrupole ICP-MS. Dr Platzner is a key figure in the Israeli Society for Mass Spectrometry (President 1988-90) and in the international mass spectrometry community.