:: Celebrating over 50 years of innovation in analytical X-ray

2004 is a Golden Jubilee year for PANalytical. It is 50 years since the company started manufacturing two of the 20th century’s most significant analytical X-ray tools – the PW1050 goniometer and the PW1520 spectrometry module.

The PW1050 goniometer was at the core of the X-ray diffractometer which rapidly became the industry standard. In addition, the PW1520 spectrometry module in combination with the PW1050 formed the nucleus of the world’s first commercially available X-ray fluorescence spectrometer. These developments transformed knowledge of X-ray analysis into tangible and comprehensive solutions for XRD and XRF.

The history of PANalytical and its involvement in X-ray analysis goes back considerably further than 50 years - the company, formerly Philips Analytical, emerged from Philips’ activities in the development, manufacturing and marketing of X-ray tubes and equipment.

In 1948, it was North American Philips Corporation (Norelco) that was responsible for the very first commercially available X-ray diffractometer. However, the quantum leap in performance came by combining the newly developed tube technology with the goniometer’s vastly extended scan range in an integrated system. The safer operation that this system allowed and the higher quality data it produced, paved the way for X-ray diffraction to become a standard analytical tool.