A paper appeared in 1964 that was to become one of the most highly cited papers in electrochemistry: “Theory of Stationary Electrode Polarography. Single Scan and Cyclic Methods Applied to Reversible, Irreversible and Kinetic Systems”, Nicholson, R. S.; Shain, I. Anal. Chem. 1964, 36, 706-723. This paper opened the door for the quantitative application of cyclic voltammetry, the name which has universally displaced “stationary electrode polarography” from current nomenclature. Before 1964, cyclic voltammetry was largely a qualitative tool and there was no way that one could obtain, for example, the rate constant for a chemical reaction following electron transfer by way of analysis of voltammetric data.

In this talk I will delineate how cyclic voltammetry has evolved during the last four decades. Drawing on work from my own laboratory and others, I will show a wide variety of applications and special effects that could hardly have been anticipated in 1964. These will attest to the remarkable staying power of this quantitative technique that was launched by Nicholson and Shain.