Remembering Prof. Edmund R. Malinowski, 1932–2020 Professor of Chemistry, 1963–1997 Stevens Institute of Technology

Abstract

One of the great pioneers of chemometrics, Prof. Edmund R. Malinowski, passed away in February 2020. Contributors to this special issue are proud to recognize and honor the pioneering work of Professor Malinowski. It is my special privilege to write this remembrance of him. Prof. Malinowski had an enormous impact on the field of chemometrics, having published over 70 papers and most notably the pioneering book “Factor Analysis in Chemistry” in 1980. The timely introduction of this topic and his clear writing style in a language that chemists could understand made this book a valuable educational tool for the budding chemometrics community. Prof. Malinowski's clear writing style can be observed throughout all his research publications. Further details about his career, his awards, and his impact on the field are well summarized in a 1999 editorial.1 His last PhD student, Kathleen Schostack, described Prof. Malinowski as “thoughtful and soft-spoken; very much old school, a gentleman and a gentle man.” I wholeheartedly concur. Prof. Malinowski was always quick to acknowledge and recognize the work of others, and I was one of the beneficiaries of this particular kindness of him. It is my pleasure to share some of my remembrances about Prof Malinowski and the impact he had on my career. In 1982, fresh out of my PhD, not having been trained in chemometrics, I discovered Prof. Malinowski's 1980 book, “Factor Analysis in Chemistry” and read it cover to cover. I was already interested in mathematical methods for resolving overlapping GC/MS or LC/UV-Vis peaks. The clear writing style and detailed attention to the mathematics of factor analysis in this book laid a great foundation for me, and by 1984, I had written a draft of my first chemometrics paper.2 Being very early in my career, the faculty at ECU asked me to organize a half-day symposium on the topic of chemometrics. I invited Tom Isenhour and Ed Malinowski, and to my great surprise, both agreed to come. I remember picking Ed up at the airport the night before the symposium and nervously handing him a draft of my first chemometrics paper. The next morning in his introductory remarks to the faculty at ECU he stated with amazement that “One of your very own faculty members gave me a draft paper yesterday that for the first time shows a curve resolution method using factor analysis to resolve three or more overlapping peaks, whereas until now it was believed that only two peaks could be resolved.” He continued to cite this work and the work of other early-career chemometricians in his conference presentations and publications. By using his name recognition and standing in the field, he generously promoted early-career chemometricians. In many ways, Prof. Edmund R. Malinowski was a Renaissance Man like others from this era. His retirement and later his death signified the end of an era, and we are all the poorer for it. The peer review history for this article is available at https://publons.com/publon/10.1002/cem.3466. N/A.