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A century of mass spectrometry: from atoms to proteomes

Nature Methods volume 8, pages 633–637 (2011)Cite this article

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Long before mass spectrometry became an important tool for cell biology, it was yielding scientific insights in physics and chemistry. Here is a brief history of how the technology has expanded from a tool for studying atomic structure and characterizing small molecules to its current incarnation as the most powerful technique for analyzing proteomes.

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Figure 1: A timeline showing important advances in mass spectrometry over the last century.

Katie Vicari

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Acknowledgements

I thank C. Delahunty and X. Han for reading early drafts and acknowledge funding from the US National Institutes of Health (P41 RR011823, R01 MH067880 and R01 HL079442).

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  1. John R. Yates III is in the Department of Chemical Physiology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, USA.,

    John R Yates III

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  1. John R Yates III
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Correspondence to John R Yates III.

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Yates III, J. A century of mass spectrometry: from atoms to proteomes. Nat Methods 8, 633–637 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmeth.1659

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