The Untold Story of HPLC: Why Did Dr. James L. Waters Create HPLC?

From the late 1970s to the 1980s, the HPLC market expanded significantly as a method for low-molecular-weight separation and measurement, spreading across various chemical industry sectors. Among these, pharmaceutical development was the primary driver of market growth, achieving remarkable progress. Manufacturers developing and producing HPLC equipment included domestic companies such as Shimadzu, Hitachi, Nippon Bunko, Toyo Soda (now Tosoh Corporation), JEOL, and Yanagimoto Manufacturing. On the international front, companies like Waters, DuPont, Beckman, Varian, Hewlett-Packard, and even IBM competed in the HPLC market.

Leading the market during this period was Waters Associates, an American venture company. The founder, Dr. James L. Waters, was a physicist who initially manufactured and sold differential refractometers from his home garage. A natural entrepreneur, he was always searching for new business opportunities.

In 1958, Dr. James L. Waters founded Waters Associates, a venture company focused on refractometer development and gas chromatography. Shortly after its establishment, he attended his sister’s wedding reception, where he heard from an MIT friend about the potential of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to drive future markets. Deeply intrigued, Dr. Waters devised gel permeation chromatography (GPC) as a method for analyzing the molecular weight distribution of polymers. In 1962, the first GPC model, the GPC100, was launched.

In 1950, Martin and colleagues developed reversed-phase partition chromatography packing materials using silica as a carrier. Over the following two decades, the performance of these materials advanced rapidly, leading to the expansion of reversed-phase partition columns for HPLC in the 1970s. By the late 1970s, Waters leveraged its extensive application data to quickly achieve the top global market share in HPLC, becoming a prime example of the American Dream in action. In 1980, Waters was acquired by Millipore Corporation. However, shortly after the acquisition, several senior executives at Millipore tragically died in a plane (Cessna) crash, causing the company to lose its strategic direction. By around 1994, Waters regained independence and continues as an influential entity in the industry today.

Dr. Waters later founded numerous other venture companies, including a school bus supply company, and established a foundation to support the training of young engineers. His contributions significantly impacted the field of analytical science.

PROFILE
Profile picture of Mr. Hisashi Iwase

Mr. Hisashi Iwase

Life Science Innovation Advisor at the Japan Analytical Instruments Manufacturers’ Association (JAIMA),
and President & CEO of BioDiscovery Inc. Born in 1951, Tokyo.
Graduated from the Department of Industrial Chemistry, College of Science and Technology, Nihon University.
Mr. Iwase’s extensive career in managing and marketing analytical and bioscience instruments includes
positions at Merck Japan, Waters Japan, Millipore Japan, PerSeptive Biosystems Japan, Applied Biosystems,
Varian Technologies, and Agilent Technologies. In 2001, he established BioDiscovery Inc., and since 2013,
he has served as a Life Science Innovation Advisor for JAIMA.

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