It is with great sadness that we have learned of the death of Dr Martin Seah MBE in early June.

His colleague, Prof. Ian Gilmore, described Martin as 'an inspirational scientist who pioneered metrology for surface chemical analysis establishing international standards and the global equivalence of measurements'.  Ian perfectly captured Martin's unique character in stating that he 'had a delightful balance of razor-sharp intellect, a gentle manner and a wonderfully dry sense of humour'.

Many of our Users will be familiar with Martin's publications and undoubtedly made reference or own a well-used and battered copy of 'Practical Surface Analysis:Auger and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy' edited by Briggs and Seah.  

In supporting Martin's nomination for MBE, Kratos Business Manager, Dr. Chris Blomfield acknowledged that 'Martin transformed the technique from unreliable and semi-quantitative to a routine analytical technique used in industry and academia around the world'.  It is easy to conclude that Martin's career has directly contributed to the success of the Kratos' surface analysis business group, establishing XPS as the primary technique for chemical surface characterisation.  So, whilst we mourn the loss, we also celebrate the significant contributions that Martin made to the advancement of XPS, AES and the surface analysis community.