| Honorific Prefix: | FRS |
| Michael Barber | |
| Birth Date: | 1934 11, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | , England |
| Other Names: | Micky |
| Fields: | Chemistry, mass spectrometry |
| Alma Mater: | Manchester Grammar School, Queen's College, Oxford |
| Thesis1 Title: | and |
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| Thesis1 Url: | and |
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| Thesis1 Year: | and |
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| Doctoral Advisor: | John Wilfrid Linnett |
| Known For: | Fast atom bombardment |
| Spouse: | Joan Barber (m. 1958; died 1991) |
| Partners: | )--> |
| Children: | 3 |
Michael (Mickey[1]) Barber, FRS (3 November 1934 – 8 May 1991) was a British chemist and mass spectrometrist, best known for his invention of fast atom bombardment ionisation.[2] [3]
On 3 November 1934, Barber was born at his family's home in Manchester at 166 Lodge Lane in Newton. His family were working-class and underprivileged. Barber was one of two boys; his brother Peter was born in 1927. His father, Joseph Barber, was a carpenter.[4]
He went to Manchester Grammar School[1] and was then educated at the Queen's College, Oxford, obtaining his B.A. in 1958 and his B.Sc. in 1959. There he worked with Jack Linnett and they designed and built a mass spectrometer forthe analysis of flames. He married Joan Gaskell in 1958, the couple had three children.[4]
In 1961 he returned to Manchester to work at the Scientific Instruments division of Associated Electrical Industries. There, he and Martin Elliott developed a method to study the fragmentation of ions with a mass spectrometer and started to work on X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. In 1973 he took up a lectureship position at UMIST and was promoted to Professor in 1985. In the same year, 1985, he was also elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. He remained at Manchester until his death.[5]
Fast atom bombardment (FAB) is a method of ionization used in mass spectrometry that uses a beam of high energy atoms strikes a surface to create ions.[6] [7] [8] An energetic beam of atoms or ions will destroy an organic molecule under conditions typically used to create secondary ions. Barber realised that mixing the compound of interest with a vacuum compatible low-volatility liquid such as glycerol effectively protected the organic molecule and allowed it to be ionized and detected.[9] The protecting liquid "matrix" allowed compounds as large as 10,000 Da molecular mass to be detected. The concept of a protecting matrix was later used in matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization.[10] The FAB technique was employed by Barber, Howard Morris (biochemist) and co-workers for early peptide sequencing experiments.[11]
The Michael Barber Centre for Collaborative Mass Spectrometry, based at the University of Manchester, is named in honour of him.