A scholarly gathering, with visitors from around the world, will be held at Cornell University, May 10, to celebrate the 80th birthday one of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology's most eminent members, Professor Emeritus Fred W. McLafferty.

The symposium will be in 200 Baker Laboratory on campus, with registration beginning at 8:45 a.m. The morning presentations begin at 9:10, and the afternoon program starts at 1:30. The public is invited to attend without charge.

McLafferty pioneered the development of analytical chemistry techniques in wide use today, including gas and liquid chromatography combined with mass spectrometry. He also was among the first in his field to apply computers to scientific instruments for data acquisition, reduction and interpretation. An expert in gaseous ion chemistry, McLafferty wrote the standard textbook in the field, Interpretation of Mass Spectra . And he continues to maintain an active research program.

In a second signal honor, McLafferty will be awarded the 2003 American Society for Mass Spectrometry Award for a Distinguished Contribution in Mass Spectrometry at a conference in Montreal, June 8-12.

McLafferty, who in 1991 became the Peter J.W. Debye Professor Emeritus of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, did his graduate studies at Cornell from 1947 to 1950, when Debye was chair of the chemistry department. After leaving Cornell, McLafferty joined the Spectroscopy Laboratory at Dow Chemical Co., where he established his pioneering group for mass spectrometry and gas chromatography. At Dow, and later at Purdue University, he became a leader in using mass spectrometry to characterize molecular structures. He joined the Cornell chemistry faculty in 1968. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences in 1982.

Among the symposium speakers will be McLafferty's colleagues and former graduate students from his long life of research. They will include I. Jonathan Amster of the University of Georgia, Michael Baldwin of the University of California-San Francisco, Ed Chait of PharmaCore, Michael Gross of Washington University at St. Louis, Neil Kelleher of the University of Illinois, Dan Little of HK Pharmaceuticals; David McAdoo of the University of Texas, Gail Pesyna of the Sloan Foundation, Peter Todd of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Frank Turecek of the University of Washington, Babu Venkataraghavan of the Institute for Advanced Studies and Evan Williams of the University of California-Berkeley.

Anyone wishing to attend should first contact Kelly Strickland at (607) 255-9887.