Karl, a thoughtful person with strong will and continuous curiosity

I encountered NIR spectroscopy from the second half of 1980s with the kind introduction by Dr. Mutsuo Iwamoto. I was so surprised to know that application of NIR spectroscopy was initiated not by a spectroscopist but by an agricultural engineer. I began my career as a Raman spectroscopist and I strongly believed that spectroscopy was developed by a spectroscopist. So, it was my truly pristine astonishment to learn that an agricultural engineer woke up “the sleeping giant.” He changed the way of thinking about spectroscopy. He opened a new door for traditional molecular spectroscopy. I was so lucky that my first NIR paper titled “Nondestructive and Noninvasive Monitoring of Deoxyhemoglobin in the Vein by Use of a NearInfrared Reflectance Spectrometer with a Fiber-Optic Probe,” appeared in Applied Spectroscopy 46, 180–182 (1992), caught the attention of Karl. He eagerly encouraged me to work on NIR spectroscopy. Since that time, I could talk with him from time to time. Karl was also very much interested in Raman spectroscopy. More than 25 years ago, he told me that in near future Raman spectroscopy will become a very important tool for nondestructive analysis. He often attended FACSS Meeting (presently SciX). He joined not only NIR sessions but also Raman and other spectroscopy sessions. From time to time, he raised strong questions in a Raman session. He always showed strong keen interest in various fields. He was the father of NIR spectroscopy and at the same time, a father of nondestructive analysis and one of the fathers in chemometrics. Nowadays, Raman spectroscopy uses chemometrics, learning from NIR spectroscopy. Karl always behaved as a gentle father. He liked discussing with people particularly young people. He was always enthusiastic even in the 80s; he never lost curiosity in science and engineering. He was also a man of strong will. He had a number of children in research, grandchildren, and great grandchildren all over the world. His influence is inestimable. The impact of his research is so wide not only in agriculture and food science but also in almost all science and engineering branches. His achievements truly deserve a Nobel Prize. We did lose a great engineer. We have to continue his great achievement and develop them further for the world!