Gerhard Herzberg

Gerhard Herzberg, PC, CC ( born December 25, 1904 in Hamburg, † March 3, 1999 in Ottawa, Canada ) was a Canadian-German chemist and physicist. He received the 1971 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In recognition and appreciation of his work, the asteroid ( 3316 ) Herzberg was named after him.

Life

Gerhard Herzberg was a pupil of the school of scholars Johanneums to Hamburg. He studied from 1924 to 1928 at the Technical University of Darmstadt, where he also in 1928 Dr. -Ing. received his doctorate. He then worked from 1928 to 1929 in Göttingen and from 1929 to 1930 in Bristol. From 1930 to 1935 he worked as an assistant and associate professor at the Technical University Darmstadt.

1935 emigrated Herzberg to Canada because it was due to his marriage with the doctoral physicist Luise Oettinger, who was of Jewish descent, deprived of their teaching license from the Ministry of Education and was also announced to him that his employment contract would not be renewed at the Technische Hochschule Darmstadt. At the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, he initially found employment as a visiting professor, and after three months he got a permanent position as a Research Professor of Physics. In 1945 he became a Canadian citizen.

Herzberg received in 1945 a professorship at the Yerkes Observatory of the University of Chicago on a professorship for spectroscopy, which he held until 1949. From 1948 he worked again in Canada, the National Research Council in Ottawa. In addition, Herzberg was a longtime honorary member of the Advisory Board of the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Garching. In 1971 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry awarded "for his contributions to the knowledge of the electronic structure and geometry of molecules, particularly free radicals".

By observing diatomic molecules Herzberg was unable to determine accurate values ​​for dissociation and ionization energies. Along with the Nobel Laureates Ronald George Wreyford Norrish and George Porter, he was involved in the development of flash spectroscopy. With particular interest he pursued the study of unstable particles and the investigation of the structure of polyatomic molecules. Also in the space research, he brought his knowledge. In comets he could prove borane and hydrocarbon.

Herzberg is known in retrospect for a quote at early clues to the cosmic background radiation, as well as others he did not recognize at that time the scope of discovery. In his book, Spectra of diatomic molecules from 1950, he wrote that the temperature of the rotational motion of CN molecules in interstellar space was 2.3 Kelvin, this would have only very limited impact. He is referring to observations of Andrew McKellar of 1940/41.

To him, the high Canadian Research Award Gerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering was named in honor.

Awards

  • From 1951: Member of the Royal Society
  • 1968: Companion of the Order of Canada
  • 1969 Willard Gibbs Medal
  • 1971: Nobel Prize in Chemistry
  • 1971: Royal Medal of the Royal Society
  • 1985 Earle K. Plyler Prize of the American Physical Society
  • 1991: Honorary doctorate from the Saint Mary's University Halifax
  • 2010: stumbling block on the site of the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany, for his wife Luise
  • 2012: Inauguration of the ( refurbished ) Herzberg lecture hall in the building S2/07 Darmstadt University of Technology, College Road

Publications

  • Atomic spectra and atomic structure. In 1936.
  • Molecular spectra and molecular structure., 1939.
  • The spectra and structures of simple free Radicals: An introduction to molecular spectroscopy. Dover Books, New York, 1971, ISBN 048665821X.
  • Molecular Spectra and Molecular Structure: I. Spectra of Diatomic Molecules. Krieger, 1989, ISBN 0894642685
  • Molecular Spectra and Molecular Structure: II Infrared and Raman Spectra of polyatomic Molecules. Krieger, 1989, ISBN 0894642693
  • Molecular Spectra and Molecular Structure: III. Electronic Spectra and Electronic Structure of polyatomic Molecules. Krieger, 1989, ISBN 0894642707
  • Molecular Spectra and Molecular Structure: IV Constants of Diatomic Molecules. KP Huber and G. Herzberg, Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, New York, 1979, ISBN 0442233949
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