Stamp for spectra description

Exhibit no. 582

In the days before computers, spectra were printed on paper and annotated by hand. Mass spectrometry facility in the Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czechoslovak Academy of Science in Prague used a rubber stamp for pre-printing a form, in which data on the sample and measurement conditions were then added.

The exhibit is the stamp used in the 1970s and early 1980s. The operator filled in the form with the data like sample ID, customer name, ion source temperature, electron energy, or mass resolution. The example of a stamp impression is from a spectrum requested by Dr. Antonín Holý, Czech scientist known for the development of important antiretroviral drugs used in the treatment of HIV and hepatitis B.