HISTORY AND APPLICATIONS OF MASS-INDEPENDENT ISOTOPE EFFECTS

The discovery of the first chemically produced mass-independent isotope effect in 1983 by Thiemens & Heidenreich opened a broad variety of applications, including physical chemistry studies, atmospheric chemistry, paleoclimatology, biologic primary productivity assessment, Solar System origin and evolution, planetary atmospheres (Mars), and the origin and evolution of life in Earth's earliest environment. This chapter reviews the history of the field as well as all of the various applications since the first report of the mass-independent isotope effect.