"I am convinced that experimental work continue to form the foundation of efforts in thermodynamics and related fields. Modeling and theoretical efforts -- both traditional ("algebraic") approaches and through simulation -- can become merely "philosophical" exercises in the absence of related data"

"As everyone knows, a prerequisite for the synthesis, design and optimization of the different processes both in chemical, pharmaceutical, gas processing, petrochemical, food industry and pollution control with the help of process simulators, is the reliable knowledge of thermophysical properties of pure compounds as function of temperature and pressure and mixture data as function of temperature, pressure and composition. "

"Industrial equipment has become so expensive that companies can no longer take the chance of working in regions that might damage the equipment ¬ how can they avoid this other than with data? Custody transfer of industrial products has exploded on an economic scale. Many companies have begun to question if the data they have is sufficiently accurate for the current situation. The darkest scenario would be exploding chemical plants that were designed based upon models rather than data."

"There has never been a time as the present one, which so necessarily requires good and well selected experimental data on fluid properties in order to test molecular modeling, which has made enormous progress in recent years. "

Daniel G. Friend, Chief Thermophysical Properties Division, NIST, USA

Juergen Gmehling, Carl von Ossietzky University, Germany

Kenneth R. Hall, Texas A&M University, USA

Andreas Heintz, University of Rostock, Germany

All quotes are extracts from epistolary communications, reported with agreement of their authors