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2007 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: German chemist Gerhard Ertl

by William Atkins

Thursday, 11 October 2007

The Nobel Prize Foundation announced on Wednesday, October 10, 2007, that Gerhard Ertl of Germany will be awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for his studies of chemical processes on solid surfaces"—specifically for helping to understand Earth’s ozone layer.

Ertl researched chemical reactions on solid surfaces, which has helped to explain the workings of such devices as fuel cells increasingly used in motor vehicles and other purposes and catalytic converters used within vehicle exhaust systems. His findings has helped both in the theoretical field of surface chemistry, and in its practical application within industry.

His findings over the years also has important implications in explaining why the ozone layer is being depleted, specifically, helping to explain the activities that happen on the surface of small crystals of ice in the stratosphere. The stratosphere is the layer of Earth's atmosphere where ozone depletion is often found.

The Nobelprize.org website (http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2007/index.html) explains more about Ertl’s award of the Nobel Prize.

Ertl, who was born on October 10, 1936 in Stuttgart, Germany, is a professor emeritus, and a former head of the Department of Physical Chemistry (1986-2004), at the Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (Fritz Haber Institute at the Max Planck Institute), in Berlin, Germany.

The 2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine and Physics were announced earlier.

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