When the editor, John Chapman, asked me to wnte the introductory chapter to thIS volume and told me that it would be dedicated to the late MIchael
"Mickey" Barber, I felt very honored and also humbled because I have always
considered MICkey to be one of the most outstanding pIOneers in the field of
mass spectrometry (MS) of proteIns. Most younger sCIentists associate
MIckey's name wIth the InVentIOn of ionizatIon of nonvolatile compounds by
fast-atom bombardment (FAB) In 1981 (1). It is also true that this invention
had a major Impact on the practIcal possibilItIes for mass spectrometric analy-
SIS of pep tides and proteins. However, only a few of the present generatIOn of
scientIsts Involved In MS of peptldes and proteIns know that MS of peptides
was already an active field 30 years ago and also that Mickey's Career in many
ways reflects the development In the field through all these years.