Dr Keith Norrish obituary – Pioneer of wavelength dispersive X-ray spectrometry
Dr Keith Norrish, a distinguished earth scientist and great pioneer of X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry, passed away on September 13th, 2017, aged 93. Malvern PANalytical would like to acknowledge his life-time contribution to the XRF technique. Inspirational, sometimes fearless, Keith Norrish was a superb practician who made significant advances in the practical application of XRF. His work led to developments in instrumentation, sample preparation techniques (e.g. borate fusion) and multi-element instrument drift monitor samples. Dr Norrish’s analytical methods are used widely in the mining sector, not only of his native Australia, but also worldwide and have led to the wider adoption of XRF in industry. For these outstanding contributions, he will be remembered.
Classics XRF papers:
Simultaneous Determination of Low Parts-per-Billion Level Pb and As in Waters using Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry, Terrance D. Hettipathirana, Lester H. Smith, and Keith Norrish, Applied Spectroscopy, 298, 55, 2001.
- XRS Analysis of Sulphides by Fusion Methods, K. Norrish and G. M. Thomson, X-Ray Spectrom., 67, 19, 1990.
- Determination of Forms of Sulfur in Plant Materials by X-Ray Fluorescent Spectrometry, A. Pinkerton, K. Norrish, and P. J. Randall, X-Ray Spectrom., 63, 19, 1988.
- Plant Analysis by X-Ray Spectrometry, K. Norrish and J. T. Hutton, Part 2. Element of Atomic Number Greater than 20, X-Ray Spectrom., 6, 12, 1977.
- Plant Analysis by X-Ray Spectrometry, K. Norrish and J. T. Hutton, Part 1. Low Atomic Number Elements, Sodium to Calcium, X-Ray Spectrom., 6, 6, 1977
- An Accurate X-Ray Spectrographic Method for the Analysis of a Wide Range of
Geological Samples, K. Norrish and J. T. Hutton, Geochim. et Cosmochim. Acta, 431, 33, 1969.