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Abraham Savitzky Papers

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Held at: Science History Institute Archives [Contact Us]315 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Science History Institute Archives. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.

Overview and metadata sections

Call Number:
011
Repository:
Science History Institute Archives
Extent:
2.75 linear feet (6 boxes.)
Language:
English
Preferred Citation:
Item Description, Box Number, Folder Number, Abraham Savitzky Papers, 1949-1989, Science History Institute Archives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Date:
1949-1989 (inclusive)
Creator:
Savitzky, Abraham, 1919-1999
Form:
Archival materials
Abstract:
Research files, manuscripts, correspondence, patents, reports, data, presentations, and publications belonging to American analytical chemist Abraham Savitzky.

Abraham Savitzky was an American analytical chemist. Savitzky was born on May 29, 1919 in New York, New York. He received his bachelor's degree from the New York State College for Teachers (now University at Albany, SUNY) in 1941. During World War II, Savitzky served in the United States Air Force. Following the war, he obtained his master's degree (1947) and his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Columbia University respectively. In 1950, after working at Columbia for a year as a research associate in electron microscopy, he began a long career with Perkin-Elmer Corporation.

Savitzky started with Perkin-Elmer as a staff scientist who was chiefly concerned with design and development of infrared instruments. He rapidly moved up the ranks in the corporation. By 1956, he was named Perkin-Elmer's New Product Coordinator for the Instrument Division, and as the years passed, he continued to gain more and more recognition for his work in the company. Most of his work with Perkin-Elmer focused on computer-aided analytical chemistry, data reduction, infrared spectroscopy, time-sharing systems, and computer plotting. He retired from Perkin-Elmer in 1985.

While working a full-time job at Perkin-Elmer, Savitzky also managed to concurrently work on other committees and projects. He served on the National Resource Council Evaluation Panel on Atomic and Molecular Physics from 1970 to 1972. Savitzky was also the Director of the Time Share Peripherals Corporation from 1970 to 1977 and served as a representative for the Science Apparatus Makers Association from 1972 to 1980. Following his retirement from Perkin-Elmer Corporation, Savitzky became the President of Silvermine Resources, Incorporated, where he remained for several years.

Abraham Savitzky was awarded seven U.S. Patents pertaining to computerization and chemical apparatus. During his long career, he presented numerous papers, and wrote several manuscripts, including "Smoothing and Differentiation of Data by Simplified Least Squares Procedures". This paper, which is the collaborative effort of Savitzky and Marcel J. E. Golay, describes the Savitzky-Golay Smoothing Filter for digital filtering. Their paper was published in Analytical Chemistry, Volume 36, in July 1964. It is one of the most famous, respected, and heavily cited articles in its field.

In recognition of his many significant accomplishments in the field of analytical chemistry and computer science, Savitzky received the Society of Applied Spectroscopy Award in 1983, and the Williams-Wright Award from the Coblentz Society in 1986. Savitzky was a member of the American Chemical Society, the American Physics Society, the Optical Society of America, and many other professional organizations. Abraham Savitzky died on February 5, 1999 in Naples, Florida.

Sources

Abraham Savitzky Papers, Science History Institute Archives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The Abraham Savitzky Papers contain the personal papers of Abraham Savitzky. The collection is arranged into the following nine series:

  1. Honors
  2. Presentations
  3. Manuscripts
  4. Patents
  5. Projects
  6. Reports
  7. Research
  8. Data
  9. Correspondence

The Abraham Savitzky Papers were donated to the Science History Institute (formerly the Chemical Heritage Foundation) by Evelyn Savitzky in 1999.

The Abraham Savitzky Papers were processed by Kristen Clark in 2001 and encoded into EAD by Samantha Brigher in 2020.

There are no other known archival collections created by Abraham Savitzky at the date of processing.

People
Organization
Subject

Publisher
Science History Institute Archives
Finding Aid Author
Finding aid created by Kristen Clark and encoded into EAD by Samantha Brigher.
Finding Aid Date
2001
Access Restrictions

There are no access restrictions on the materials.

Use Restrictions

The Science History Institute holds copyright to the Abraham Savitzky Papers. The researcher assumes full responsibility for all copyright, property, and libel laws as they apply.

Collection Inventory

Series Description

This series contains Abraham Savitzky's Honors files. Arranged chronologically by date, this series consists of one box of four files. These files contain newspaper clippings about Savitzky, his acceptance address for the Society of Applied Spectroscopy Award, his retirement party address, and his acceptance address for the Williams-Wright Award.

News clippings about Savitzky, 1957-1959, 1986.
Box 1 Folder 1
Society for Applied Spectroscopy Award Address - "A Long Exposure to Infra-Red", 1983.
Box 1 Folder 2
Retirement Party Address, 1985.
Box 1 Folder 3
Williams-Wright Award Address, 1985-1986.
Box 1 Folder 4

Series Description

This series contains Abraham Savitzky's Presentations files. Arranged chronologically by date, this series consists of two boxes of forty-six files. These files contain research papers written by Savitzky that he presented at numerous conferences. The topics primarily concern the development of computers in chemical analysis and processing as well as infrared spectroscopy.

"Recent Developments in Infrared Spectroscopy" (Presented at the Gordon Research Conferences.), 1951.
Box 1 Folder 5
"The Bichromator Analyzer" (water damage), 1952.
Box 1 Folder 6
"Design and Performance of the Model 13 Spectrophotometer" (Presented at a Symposium on Molecular Structure and Spectroscopy.), 1952.
Box 1 Folder 7
"Application of Servos to Spectroscopy" (Presented at the Symposium on Molecular Structure and Spectroscopy.), 1952.
Box 1 Folder 8
"Application of Infrared Continuous Analyzers", 1955.
Box 1 Folder 9
"Infrared Analyzers in Process Control" (Presented to the American Chemical Society.), 1955-1956.
Box 1 Folder 10
"Infrared Analysis and Chemical Processing" (Radio Broadcast), 1956.
Box 1 Folder 11
"The Perkin-Elmer Corporation Instrument Division" (Presented to North Jersey Section of the American Chemical Society.), 1957.
Box 1 Folder 12
"Infrared Spectroscopy" (Presented at the Clinic on New Instrumentation for In-Stream Food Analysis.), 1957.
Box 1 Folder 13
"Infrared Spectroscopy" (Presented at the National Canners Convention.), 1958.
Box 1 Folder 14
"Some Present Methods of Continuous Analysis" (Presented at the Society for Applied Spectroscopy.), 1958.
Box 1 Folder 15
"Continuous Composition Analyzers: A Comparison" (Presented at the 13th Annual Instrumentation-Automation Conference.), 1958.
Box 1 Folder 16
"Rotary Dispersion Measurement with Double Beam Spectrophotometers" (Presented at the Pittsburgh Conference and Exposition on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy.), 1959.
Box 1 Folder 17
"Reactor Instrumentation for Continuous Analysis" (Presented to the New York Section of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers.), 1959.
Box 1 Folder 18
"Economics and Philosophy of the Application of Gas Chromatography to Process Monitoring and Control", 1959.
Box 1 Folder 19
"The Analyst Counts" (Presented at the Eastern Analytical Symposium.), 1960.
Box 1 Folder 20
"Computer Handling of Infrared Spectra: An Exploration" (Presented at the Pittsburgh Conference and Exposition on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy.), 1961.
Box 1 Folder 21
"Data Processing in Analytical Chemistry" (Presented to the Instrument Society of America Conference.), 1961.
Box 1 Folder 22
Untitled paper presented to the Delaware Valley Section of the Society for Applied Spectroscopy, 1961.
Box 1 Folder 23
"Some Numerical Operations of Analytical Data" (Presented at the 15th Annual Summer Analytical Symposium.), 1962.
Box 1 Folder 24
"Some Effects of Computer-Instrument Linkages upon Laboratory Measurements" (Presented at a Symposium on Recent Development in Research Methods and Instrumentation.), 1962.
Box 1 Folder 25
"Computers as Tools in Analytical Chemistry" (Presented to the American Society for Quality Control.), 1962.
Box 1 Folder 26
"Computer Handling of Spectra-II: Progress" (Presented at the Pittsburgh Conference and Exposition on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy.), 1963.
Box 1 Folder 27
"Applications of Digital Computers in Infrared Spectroscopy" (Presented at the 8th European Congress on Molecular Spectroscopy.), 1963.
Box 1 Folder 28
"Computer Handling of Spectra-II: Programs for Evaluation of Spectrophotometer Performance" (Presented at the Pittsburgh Conference and Exposition on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy.), 1964.
Box 1 Folder 29
"Computer Interpretation of Gas Chromatographic Data" (Presented at the Pittsburgh Conference and Exposition on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy.), 1965.
Box 2 Folder 1
"Computer-Aided Presentation of Standard Spectra" (Presented at the Pittsburgh Conference and Exposition on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy.), 1965.
Box 2 Folder 2
Quality Control, 1965.
Box 2 Folder 3
"Determination of Precise Peak Positions and Intensities from Digitized Spectra" (Presented at the 8th European Congress on Molecular Spectroscopy.), 1965.
Box 2 Folder 4
"Computers: Increasingly Important Laboratory Tools" (Presented to the Society for Applied Spectroscopy.), 1966.
Box 2 Folder 5
"Use of Computer Techniques for Studying Weak Infrared Absorption Bands" (Presented at the Pittsburgh Conference and Exposition on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy.), 1967.
Box 2 Folder 6
"Computers in the Laboratory: The Man-Machine Instrument Interfaces" (Presented at the Pittsburgh Conference and Exposition on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy.), 1967.
Box 2 Folder 7
"Spectran: A Computer Programming Language for Spectroscopists" (Presented at the 9th European Congress on Molecular Spectroscopy.), 1967.
Box 2 Folder 8
Applications Programming, 1968.
Box 2 Folder 9
"Laboratory Data Acquisition and Computation" (Presented at the First Central Regional Meeting of the American Chemical Society.), 1968.
Box 2 Folder 10
"Laboratory Data Acquisition and Computation" (Presented at the 20th Mid-America Symposium on Spectroscopy.), 1969.
Box 2 Folder 11
"Computer-Aided Infrared Spectroscopy" (Presented in New Orleans, Louisiana.), 1970.
Box 2 Folder 12
"Mini and Maxi Computers" (Presented at the Symposium on Computers in Analytical Chemistry.), 1972.
Box 2 Folder 13
Untitled paper, 1973.
Box 2 Folder 14
"The Use of Computers in the Laboratory" (Presented on the American Chemical Society Tours.), 1974.
Box 2 Folder 15
Untitled paper (Presented at a Symposium on Computers in Analytical Chemistry.), 1976.
Box 2 Folder 16
"The Spectroscopist and the Computer: A Partnership" (Presented at the XXII Colloquium Spectroscopicum Internationalle.), 1981.
Box 2 Folder 17
"Bits, Bytes, Bugs, and Buzzwords: The Computer and How it Works" (Presented at the Workshop on Computerized Infrared Spectroscopy.), 1981.
Box 2 Folder 18
"Development and Trends in User/Computer Interaction for Spectroscopic Applications" (Presented at an Eastern Analytical Symposium.), 1983.
Box 2 Folder 19
"Design Philosophy of a Portable On-Line Infrared Computer System", undated.
Box 2 Folder 20
Time-Sharing, undated.
Box 2 Folder 21
Miscellaneous Presentations, undated.
Box 2 Folder 22

Series Description

This series contains Abraham Savitzky's Manuscripts files. Arranged chronologically by date, this series consists of one box of thirteen files. These files contain manuscripts written by Savitzky primarily concerning spectrophotometers, analytical chemistry, and data processing.

Savitzky, Abraham. "A Ratio-Recording Double Beam Infrared Spectrophotometer Using Phase Discrimination and a Single Detector" (Dissertation), 1949.
Box 3 Folder 1
Coates, Vincent, Thomas Miller, and Abraham Savitzky. "The Performance of the Perkin-Elmer Model 21 in the Region 210mu to 2000mu", 1955.
Box 3 Folder 2
Savitzky, Abraham, and Donald R. Bresky. "Application of Bichromator Infrared Dispersion Analyzer", 1954.
Box 3 Folder 3
Savitzky, Abraham, E. H. Woodhull, and A. P. Weber. "Continuous Infrared Analyzers for Process Control", 1956.
Box 3 Folder 4
Savitzky, Abraham. "Data Processing in Analytical Chemistry", 1961.
Box 3 Folder 5
Savitzky, Abraham, W. Slavin, and R. E. Salinger. "Rotary Dispersion Measurement with Double Beam Spectrophotometers", 1962.
Box 3 Folder 6
Savitzky, Abraham, and Marcel J. E. Golay. "Smoothing and Differentiation of Data by Simplified Least Squares Procedures", 1963-1972.
Box 3 Folder 7
"Enhancement of Signal to Noise Ratios by Summation and Smoothing of Data", 1964.
Box 3 Folder 8
Savitzky, Abraham. "Computers Reduce Data for Better Quality Control", 1966.
Box 3 Folder 9
Paper for La Jolla, 1967.
Box 3 Folder 10
Graphics in Time-sharing, 1969.
Box 3 Folder 11
Savitzky, Abraham. "A Historic Collaboration" (Savitzky's work with Marcel J. E. Golay.), 1989.
Box 3 Folder 12
Babish, R., Hutchinson, F. B., and Abraham Savitzky. "Design and Performance of a Direct Ratio Automatic Recording Infrared Spectrophotometer", undated.
Box 3 Folder 13

Series Description

This series contains Abraham Savitzky's Patents files. Arranged chronologically by date, this series consists of one box of seven files. These files contain patents awarded to Savitzky for spectrometers, a radiation sample cell, a digital lever switch, electrical signal-generating equipment, a recorder using either a stationary or moving chart, and a method and apparatus for determining the nature of an unknown chemical substance.

"Recording Spectrometer", 1950, 1954.
Box 3 Folder 14
"Radiation Sample Cell", 1958.
Box 3 Folder 15
"Digital Lever Switch with Indicating Means", 1961, 1965.
Box 3 Folder 16
"Sample Cell for Live Zero Spectrometer", 1961, 1965.
Box 3 Folder 17
"Electrical Signal Generating Equipment", 1962, 1966.
Box 3 Folder 18
"Recorder Using Either a Stationary of Moving Chart", 1966, 1968.
Box 3 Folder 19
"Method and Apparatus for Determining the Nature of an Unknown Chemical Substance", 1982.
Box 3 Folder 20

Series Description

This series contains Abraham Savitzky's Projects files. Arranged chronologically by date, this series consists of one box of four files. These files contain materials regarding Savitzky's projects like the Model 180 IR Spectrophotometer and the Savitzky Peakfinder.

S.A.D. Group, 1953.
Box 4 Folder 1
Model 180 IR Spectrophotometer, 1964-1970.
Box 4 Folder 2
Savitzky Peakfinder - PC120, 1966.
Box 4 Folder 3
Savitzky Peakfinder - PC120, 1970.
Box 4 Folder 4

Series Description

This series contains Abraham Savitzky's Reports files. Arranged chronologically by date, this series consists of one box of eight files. These files contain Savitzky's reports, including a technical report on the Bichromator Analyzer, a preliminary survey on gas chromatography, as well as reports on optical rotatory dispersion, clinical chemistry instrumentation, the applications and impact of digital techniques in spectrophotometry, and the use of computers at Perkin-Elmer.

"Preliminary Technical Report Bichromator Analyzer", 1952.
Box 4 Folder 5
"Gas Chromatography Preliminary Survey" (minor water damage), 1955.
Box 4 Folder 6
"Optical Rotatory Dispersion", 1958.
Box 4 Folder 7
"Trading Rules in Infrared Spectrometry", 1959.
Box 4 Folder 8
"Clinical Chemistry Instrumentation", 1960.
Box 4 Folder 9
"Report for Analytical Chemists", 1961.
Box 4 Folder 10
"Some Applications and Impact of Digital Techniques in Spectrophotometry", 1961.
Box 4 Folder 11
"Computers and Perkin-Elmer", 1964.
Box 4 Folder 12

Series Description

This series contains Abraham Savitzky's Research files. Arranged chronologically by date, this series consists of one box of five files. These files contain research notes created by Savitzky between 1959 and 1967.

Research Notes, 1959 February-1961 January.
Box 5 Folder 1
Research Notes, 1961 January-1961 December.
Box 5 Folder 2
Research Notes, 1961 December-1964 March.
Box 5 Folder 3
Research Notes, 1964 February-1965 February.
Box 5 Folder 4
Research Notes, 1967.
Box 5 Folder 5

Series Description

This series contains Abraham Savitzky's Data files. Arranged chronologically by date, this series consists of one box of three files. These files contain collected research data including synthetic spectrum, a cassette recording, and a miscellany file of data.

First Run of Synthetic Spectrum 1, 1960.
Box 5 Folder 6
Cassette Data Recording, 1976.
Box 5 Folder 7
Miscellaneous Data, undated.
Box 5 Folder 8

Series Description

This series contains Abraham Savitzky's Correspondence files. Arranged chronologically by date, this series consists of one box of five files. The contents of these files consist of general correspondence between Savitzky and other individuals between 1955 and 1983.

General Correspondence, 1955-1956.
Box 6 Folder 1
General Correspondence, 1961-1963.
Box 6 Folder 2
General Correspondence, 1964-1966.
Box 6 Folder 3
General Correspondence, 1967-1973.
Box 6 Folder 4
General Correspondence, 1973-1983.
Box 6 Folder 5

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