CHAPTER 18:Outlook

Thrilling developments of analytical capabilities and technological novelties of the 20th century have also fostered the field of elemental and isotopic mass spectrometry. Computer control catapulted the method into modern times and – still – the tremendously increasing amount of data is almost impossible to handle with basic modern computer technology. After the first generation of mass spectrometers had been dedicated to pure science, the instruments have faced a steady development and can nowadays not only be found in almost every scientific laboratory but have also entered many fields of routine analysis. Continued enhancements in performance allow for the investigation of areas that have even not been considered before. Smaller sample sizes, increased measurement precision, detection limits heading towards the detection of single atoms, combination of simultaneous measurements of sample properties – to name a few – and the race is not over, yet. Even though it is illusory and impossible to predict the future – which is by the way the intrinsic beauty of the future – we allow a glimpse into the crystal ball – or better to say, we summarise the rainbow wishes and lilac dreams of analytical scientists for the future.