Barbara Paldus

When a technology is developed or a company is founded, it is often difficult to assess its full impact on a scientific field, industry, or society. As the technology or company evolve and grow, the core application may be completely different from the original hypothesis or plan. We will look at three case studies in optical spectroscopy applied to environmental monitoring, automation applied to bio-processing, and chemical engineering applied to cosmetics, where the end point was very different yet led to broader utility and ultimately success.