Mass spectrometry: Recent advances and future directions

The discipline of mass spectrometry is nearly a century old. Like any experimental scientific endeavor, the machines and the science get irretrievably mixed with the development of one stimulating the other in a symbiotic manner. In this paper the authors select a few of the important recent successes to highlight the incredible growth of mass spectrometry over the past several decades. The topic choices made are personal but hopefully serve as an indicator of the current excitement in this rapidly evolving field. Selections are made from nuclear physics, through the broad spectrum of the chemical sciences, to the borders of biology.