ABSTRACT
By 1925 the hospital clinical laboratory had taken on the repertoire and appearance that remained essentially unchanged for the next thirty-five to forty years, until after the debut of the Technicon AutoAnalyzer in the late 1950s. Prior to 1940, American biochemistry was closely connected to clinical medicine. The Sunderman Proficiency Testing Service continued uninterrupted for thirty-six years until it was turned over to the American Society of Clinical Pathologists in 1985. The name adopted for the organization, by unanimous vote, was the American Association of Clinical Chemists. Workshops and seminars in the newest developments in laboratory science were initiated by the American Society of Clinical Pathologists. The first generation of American biochemists to gain international prominence, viz., Otto Folin, Stanley Rossiter Benedict, and Donald Dexter Van Slyke, were known for their achievements in clinical biochemistry. The AutoAnalyzer became the first machine in a series of engineering marvels designed to meet specific analytical needs in the clinical chemistry laboratory.
