ScienceLives article: The Man Behind the Technology of "CSI"

R. Graham Cooks, Purdue University's Henry Bohn Hass Distinguished Professor of Analytical Chemistry, has made mass spectrometry appeal to mass audiences with technology featured on the hit series "CSI." Mass spectrometry turns molecules into ions so their mass can be analyzed, and traditionally requires chemical separations, manipulations of samples and containment in a vacuum chamber. Cooks developed a desorption electrospray ionization technique, called DESI, that performs the ionization step in the air or directly on surfaces, making it much faster and more portable. more information