Freddy Adams#

A tribute to Freddy C. V. Adams on the occasion of his retirement. Special Editorial., Royal Society of Chemistry

Education

• Ph D in Chemistry, University of Ghent Belgium, 1963

Career

• 1960-1965 Research associate of the Interuniversity Institute for Nuclear Sciences (IIKW), Brussels, Belgium
• 1965-1972 Research assistant at the University of Ghent, Institute Nuclear Research in analytical chemistry and radiochemistry.
• 1970-1971 Visiting researcher at the Cyclotron Institute Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas U.S.A.
• 1972-2003 Professor of Chemistry at the University of Antwerp (U.I.A.) with teaching assignment in analytical chemistry and radiochemistry.
• 1978-2003 Founder and co-Director of Micro-Trace Analysis Centre.
• 1983-1995 Rector of the Universitaire Instelling Antwerpen (U.I.A.)
• 2004 Emeritus professor of the University of Antwerp

Scientific distinctions

• Prize of European Research Associates, 1960.
• Prize Stas-Spring, Royal Academy of Sciences, Belgium, 1964.
• Recipient of Travel Award of the Belgian Government, 1966-1967.
• NATO research travel grant, 1969-1970.
• Louis Gordon Memorial Award, 1979.
• Castaing Award, 1984.
• Prize Environment Policy - Foundation Coca-Cola, 1990.
• Pregl Medal of the Austrian Chemical Society, 1996.
• Doctor Honoris Causa, Al. I. Cuza University, Iasi, Romania, 1998.
• Honorary member of the Romanian Chemical Society 1998.
• European Winter Conference, Award for achievements in the field of plasma spectrochemistry (Lillehammer, Norway, 2001).
• Doctor Honoris Causa, Moldova State University, Chisinau, Moldova, 2008.

Memberships and functions

General

• Chairman of the Commission for Scientific Research of the Flemish Interuniversity Council (V.L.I.R.), 1984-1986.
• President of the Flemish Interuniversity Council, 1985-1987.
• Member of the Governing Board of the Flemish Institute for Applied Research (IWT), 1994-1997
• Chairman of the Commission for Radiation - Nuclear Chemistry of the Interuniversity Institution for Nuclear Sciences (IISN), 1992-1995; chairman of the Commission inorganic and analytical chemistry, 1996-1997
• Member of the Flemish Council for Science Policy, VRWB, since 1990. Member of the Bureau since 1994 and Chairman of the Commission for Federal and International Research, 1994-1998
• Vice-President of the Flemish Institute for Biotechnology (VIB), 1994-2001
• Member of the Science Council of the University of Antwerp, 1983-2000
• President of the Royal Flemish Chemical Society, 1996-2000

Discipline oriented councils:

• Member of the Organizing Committee of Interuniversity specialized courses in Belgium on Nuclear Chemistry and Analytical Chemistry.
• Member of the research Community “Micro-and surface Analysis” of FWO (1993-2003).
• Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre, Mol (1988 -1992)
• Member of the Flemish Organisation for Applied research (VITO) (1990-1995).
• Member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF), Grenoble, France, 1989-1998.
• Rapporteur of the Assessment Committee of Standards, Measurements and Testing, EU 1996-1997.
• Member of the steering group of the NATO Science for Peace programme, 1996-2003.
• Member of the governing board of Network of Excellence of 6th Framework Programme NANOBEAMS, 2004-2008
• Associate member of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), 1994-1997. Titular member of the Analytical chemistry division 1997-2000. Member of the commission on Materials chemistry, 1997-1999
• Member of the Academia Europaea since 1989.
• Member of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry,the American Chemical Society, the European Microbeam Analysis Society and the Microbeam Analysis Society (USA) since 1991.
• President-General of the Royal Flemish Chemical Society, 1996-2000
• Associate member of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), Commission on Spectrochemical and other optical procedures for analysis (V.4.) 1991-1996. Member of the commission on Materials chemistry (1997-2008).
• Associated member of the National Belgian Committee for Antarctic Research 1993-2005.
• Member of the European Academy of Arts, Sciences and Humanities, 1996-2008.
• Founding member of the association EUROSCIENCE, 1997-

Editorial boards of scientific journals
Member of the Editorial board of Analytica Chimica Acta (Elsevier); former member editorial board Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry (Gordon and Breach Science Publ), Mikrochimica Acta (Springer Verlag), Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry (Royal Chemical Society) and Science of the Total Environment (Elsevier). Formerly Associate Editor of Journal of Trace and Microprobe Techniques (Marcel Dekker) (from start of journal until 1995). Formerly member of the Advisory Panel, Analytical Spectroscopy Monographs (Royal Society of Chemistry) and the Advisory Board of the Encyclopedia of Analytical Science since 1991.

Research interests

• Instrumental microscopic analysis with ion, electron and laser beam techniques and synchrotron X-ray sources;
• Ultratrace speciation analysis with hyphenated techniques.
• Applications of these methodologies in materials sciences, environmental chemistry and archaeology.

Scientific achievements

• Author of 5 books and ca. 600 publications in the international scientific literature.
• Project leader of projects for the Belgian Federal State, the Flemish Community, the Belgian Fund for Scientific research, the European Union…
• Co-organiser and member of the scientific advisory committee of several conferences every year.
• Numerous invitations for plenary and invited lectures at international scientific meetings.