Nobel chemistry rises to the surface
Gerhard Ertl of the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society in Berlin, Germany, received the 2007 Nobel Prize in chemistry for his pioneering studies of chemical processes on solid surfaces
In the 1960s, Gerhard Ertl began to explore how techniques emerging from the fledgling electronics industry - such as high-vacuum methods and chemical vapour deposition techniques for coating one material with a very thin layer of another - might be used in the investigation of how atoms, molecules, and ions interact at surfaces. He showed how different experimental procedures could be used to provide a complete picture of a surface reaction.
Ertl originally focused on the Haber-Bosch process. This key industrial process grabs nitrogen directly from the air, fixing it as ammonia molecules, which can then be used to make artificial fertilisers for agriculture.
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