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Karl Norris: Father of NIR spectroscopy

18 July 2019 | News
by Ian Michael

We are sad to announce that Karl Norris passed away peacefully on 17 July 2019 at the age of 98. Karl is rightly known as the “father of near infrared spectroscopy”. He invented the technique while working at the USDA Instrumentation Research Laboratory, Beltsville, USA. He had a deep understanding not only of the instrumentation but also of the relation of spectra and chemistry. With his home-coded software, he regularly won the chemometrics “Shootout” at the International Diffuse Reflectance Conference in Chambersburg, PA, until he graciously stood down and let others have a chance!

The whole of the NIR spectroscopy community as well as the billions who benefit from its applications owe so much to Karl.

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