The Basis for Future Developments of Hydrocarbon Analysis, 1855–1965

The title of this talk “The Basis For Future Developments of Hydrocarbon Analysis”, is a large order. It ia true that future work is always based on what has gone before, on what is currently known. It is also true that ideas and techniques currently unrelated to the petroleum industry may suddenly emerge as of primary importance in hydrocarbon analysis, because of the development of some previously unheard of analytical technique. In this paper, I will try to cover the development of hydrocarbon analysis up to the present time, and to do just a little speculating about the future. No matter how well this is done, I am sure that a few years hence some new factors will become important in hydrocarbon analysis, which we cannot now foresee. Hydrocarbon analysis seems to be that sort of a subject. The course of events is far from predictable, but this does not mean that a good knowledge of the background does not have real value. We believe that it has. In approaching this large order of historical material, I believe that the best feel for the forward march of events in hydrocarbon analysis can be achieved by considering periods. This means considering the advances in the petroleum industry broadly, since the analytical needs and demands changed and multiplied as the industry developed. I am not aware of any historical treatment of this subject in the literature, and therefore have undertaken to write a text for publication which, if I read it today, would keep me talking for several hours. I am supposed to wind up this talk in about 25 to 30 minutes, therefore I can only give you today a small part of what I am preparing for publication. In selecting items to present from the wealth of material available, I have tried to pick out what will be interesting, even though historically other items may be more important. Today, I hope to give you some feeling for the broad picture of analytical progress in our field over the last 110 years. I regret that the limitation of time will not permit a more precise historical balance than is possible in such a brief presentation.