Ertel is from the Max Planck Institute, the prize is awarded for his research in the field of chemical processes on solid surfaces
The Nobel Prize Committee decided this time to dedicate the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to the field of solid surfaces, and exclusively awarded the prize to Gerhard Ertel from the Fritz Haber Institute at the Max Planck Society in Berlin. Artel, who turned 71 today, said it was the best birthday present you could give someone.
"When a German won a prize in physics yesterday, it was clear to me that they would not give another German a Nobel Prize in chemistry either. This is the greatest honor one can think of in a scientist's life."
The chairman of the chemistry award committee, Gunnar von Heine, said: "We are used to thinking of chemistry as something like a liquid or a gas. However, surface chemistry is interesting, important, and has practical implications, and this chemistry occurs in front of solid surfaces."
"Think about rusting iron, think about catalytic converters in the exhaust pipes of your vehicles, think about fuel cell technology - in all these cases, we are talking about surface chemistry."
According to him, the modern science of surface chemistry began to emerge in the sixties from processes used in the semiconductor industry. The Nobel Committee reports that Prof. Ertel was one of the first to see the potential in the new techniques.
Great accuracy
Prof. Ertel developed a methodology that determines how many different experimental processes can be used to provide a complete picture of the chemical reactions of certain surfaces.
This scientific field requires advanced equipment to examine how individual layers of atoms and molecules behave on a particularly pure surface of a sample metal. Contamination can disrupt all measurements, so obtaining the complete picture about the reaction requires great precision and the combination of many experimental techniques.
According to the members of the committee, Prof. Ertel "founded schools of experiments by illustrating the fact that the results can be reliably applied to this problematic field of research as well. The committee's statement continued: "His insights provided the scientific basis of surface chemistry. His methodologies are used both in academic research and in industrial developments of chemical processes."
