Gerhard Ertl and the 2007 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: for his studies of chemical processes on solid surfaces

Abstract

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2007 has been awarded to Gerhard Ertl, a German scientist 71 years old, with an enormous prestige, kind personality and exceptionally talented. At the end of the 70's, Ertl pioneered the introduction of extremely sophisticated techniques to investigate the interaction of molecules with solid surfaces. The monocrystalline surfaces under investigation were encapsulated in an ultra high vacuum camera and isolated from the atmosphere.