Should surface science exploit more quantitative experiments?

In recent years two particular methods, scanning probe microscopy and theoretical total energy calculations (based, particularly, on density functional theory), have led to major advances in our understanding of surface science. However, performed to the exclusion of more ‘traditional’ experimental methods that provide quantitative information on the composition, vibrational properties, adsorption and desorption energies, and on the electronic and geometrical structure, the interpretation of the results can be unnecessarily speculative. Combined with these methods, on the other hand, they give considerable added power to the long-learnt lesson of the need to use a range of complementary techniques to unravel the complexities of surface phenomena.