Georges A. Guiochon

Georges A. Guiochon, 83, a pioneer in the field of chromatography and a distinguished scientist and professor of chemistry at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, died on Oct. 21, 2014, of neuromuscular failure due to postpolio syndrome.

Born in Nantes, France, Guiochon obtained a chemical engineering degree at École Polytechnique near Paris in 1953 and a Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Paris in 1958. In his graduate work, he studied ammonium nitrate explosions and developed safety guidance.

Guiochon then joined the faculty of École Polytechnique and later chaired its department of chemistry and physics. From 1968 until 1984, he also served as professor of chemistry at Pierre & Marie Curie University in Paris.

In 1984, Guiochon joined the faculty at Georgetown University, serving as a professor of chemistry until 1987, when he accepted appointments at UT Knoxville and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. He focused on preparative chromatography, the theory of nonlinear chromatography, and applications in gas, liquid, and supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC). Just before his death, Guiochon worked on the two-dimensional separation of lipids using liquid chromatography/SFC/mass spectrometry.

Guiochon authored seven books, served as editor of two books, and is credited with more than 1,200 papers. He mentored more than 100 chemists and engineers.

He received numerous awards, including the ACS Award in Separations Science & Technology in 1991 and the ACS Award in Chromatography in 1998. Guiochon joined ACS in 1959.

Guiochon was inducted into the Academy of Science in Catalonia and the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences.

Many events have been organized to honor Guiochon, including upcoming symposia at HPLC 2015 in Geneva, Switzerland; PREP 2015 in Philadelphia; and the 10th Balaton Symposium in Siófok, Hungary.

Guiochon is survived by his wife, Lois Ann Beaver; his former wife, Claudine; daughters, Anne Guiochon Mantel, Alice Anglaret, and Odile Ezerzer; and seven grandchildren.