Paul A. Wilks Jr. collection

Paul A. Wilks, Jr. was an engineer of scientific apparatuses and instruments for infrared spectroscopy. Wilks was born on June 16, 1923 in Springfield, Massachusetts. After graduating from Springfield Technical High School, Wilks went to Harvard University, where he majored in engineering. He graduated from Harvard University in 1944 with a bachelor's degree and began working for Perkin-Elmer, Incorporated that same year. Wilks became the marketing director of Perkin-Elmer in 1952. Wilks left Perkin-Elmer in 1957 and, along with Charles W. Warren, co-founded the Connecticut Instrument Company, which manufactured accessories for infrared spectroscopy instruments. Wilks and Warren sold their company to R. Bowling Barnes in 1962. In 1963, Wilks founded the Wilks Scientific Corporation, which manufactured a variety of spectroscopy products. The company was sold to the Foxboro Company in 1977 and Wilks managed the Wilks Division of the company until 1979. After leaving Foxboro, Wilks founded the General Analysis Corporation to market products that monitored workspace environments. The company was unable to create a market in this area and changed its focus towards producing products for other industries, such as the beverage industry. In 1983, the Joint Committee on Atomic and Molecular Physical Data started a task force on Spectral Data Portability under the direction of Wilks. The task force developed a program called JCamp-DX, which is file-format for spectroscopy, and is still in use to this day. Wilks decided to retire in 1993 and General Analysis was eventually sold to OI Corporation. While still in retirement, Wilks started another company in the 1990s, Wilks Enterprise, Incorporated. This company continued Wilks' efforts to produce applicable products based on infrared spectroscopy and other technologies. Paul A. Wilks Jr. died in Lebanon, New Hampshire on October 11, 2008.