Ion‐Selective Electrodes – The Early Years

As we near the 50th anniversary of the development of modern ion‐selective electrodes (ISEs), the Matrafüred Conference seemed to be the ideal venue to reminisce about the early years, since Hungary is generally regarded as the birthplace of these new electrodes. Those of us, who worked with ISEs in the 1960s and ′70s, can recall the excitement of discovery existing at the time. In this reminiscence, I shall first provide a few vignettes of the leaders in the early years followed by a description of some of my personal research to demonstrate the variety of novel approaches open to investigators of that era.