Bernhard Welz was borne in Augsburg, Germany, in 1936, and received his PhD in Chemistry at the University of Stuttgart, Germany, in 1966. He joined the instrument manufacturer Perkin Elmer in 1967, working first as Application Specialist for Atomic Absorption Spectrometry, then as Product Manager Atomic Spectroscopy, and finally from 1982-1998 as Director of Applied Research Atomic Spectroscopy. In 1999 he accepted a call as Visiting Professor at the Federal University of Santa Catarina, Florianopolis, Brazil. Bernhard Welz is teaching post-graduate courses in the fields of Atomic Spectroscopy and trace analysis. His current research interest is mainly in the field of Electrothermal Atomic Absorption Spectrometry, High-resolution Continuum Source AAS and ICP-MS, and the application of these techniques to environmental and fuel (oil, coal) analysis, with special emphasis on direct solid sample analysis. Bernhard Welz has more than 200 publications in various international Journals including 34 book chapters, and he is the author of two recent books on Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (Wiley-VCH, 1999, 941 pp.) and High-resolution Continuum Source AAS (Wiley-VCH, 2005, 295 pp.). He has also organized more than 20 Conferences, and was member of the Scientific Committee of various other international conferences, including the recent CSIIV in Antwerp, Belgium.