The 2007 Nobel prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Gerhard Ertl of the Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Berlin, Germany, "for his studies of chemical processes on solid surfaces".

Professor Ertl has founded an experimental school of thought by showing how reliable results can be attained in difficult areas of surface chemical research. His methodology, used in both academic research and the industrial development of chemical processes, has been applied to some of the most central of previously unanswered questions concerning molecules on surfaces.

CO oxidation on PT-modified Ru

(see:- Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2005, 7, 1300 – 1309)

The approach developed by Ertl is based not least on his studies of the Haber-Bosch process, in which nitrogen is extracted from the air for inclusion in artificial fertilizers. Ertl has also studied the oxidation of carbon monoxide on platinum, a reaction that takes place in the catalyst of cars to clean exhaust emissions. His investigations, carried out with the greatest elegance in experimental approach, are characterized by an ambition always to use the experimental technique - LEED, UPS, AES, RHEED, PEEM, cyclic voltametry - best suited to solve the problem at hand.

More from the official Nobel Prize site. (opens a new window)

see also Chemistry World, November 2007, p. 46 (again in a new window)