Gerhard Herzberg

The Honourable Gerhard Herzberg PCCCFRSCFRS
Gerhard Herzberg, London 1952
Born	Gerhard Heinrich Friedrich Otto Julius Herzberg December 25, 1904 Hamburg,Imperial Germany
Died	March 3, 1999(1999-03-03)(aged 94) Ottawa,Ontario,Canada
Nationality	German
Citizenship	Canadian
Alma mater	Technische Universität Darmstadt
Awards	FRS(1951) Henry Marshall Tory Medal(1953) Centenary Prize(1958) Bakerian Medal(1960) Frederic Ives Medal(1964) Willard Gibbs Award(1969) Faraday Lectureship Prize(1970) Linus Pauling Award(1971) Nobel Prize for Chemistry(1971) Chemical Institute of Canada Medal(1972) Royal Medal(1971)(1972) Watts Lecture(1974) Earle K. Plyler Prize(1985)
Scientific career
Fields	physical chemist
Institutions	Carleton University,National Research Council of Canada,University of Saskatchewan,University of Chicago
Doctoral advisor	Hans Rau
Doctoral students	Takeshi Oka

Gerhard Heinrich Friedrich Otto Julius Herzberg,PCCCFRSCFRS(German:[ˈɡeːɐ̯.haʁtˈhɛʁt͡sˌbɛʁk];December 25, 1904 – March 3, 1999) was a German-Canadian pioneeringphysicistandphysical chemist,who won theNobel Prize for Chemistryin 1971, "for his contributions to the knowledge of electronic structure and geometry of molecules, particularly free radicals".Herzberg's main work concerned atomic and molecularspectroscopy.He is well known for using these techniques that determine the structures ofdiatomicandpolyatomicmolecules, includingfree radicalswhich are difficult to investigate in any other way, and for the chemical analysis of astronomical objects. Herzberg served as Chancellor ofCarleton UniversityinOttawa,Canadafrom 1973 to 1980.

Early life and family

Commemorative plaque atCollege Building,University of Saskatchewan

Herzberg was born inHamburg,Germany on December 25, 1904 to Albin H. Herzberg and Ella Biber.He had an older brother, Walter, who was born in January 1904.Herzberg startedVorschule(pre-school) late, after contracting measles.Gerhard and his family were atheists and kept this fact hidden.His father died in 1914, at 43 years of age, after having suffered fromdropsyand complications due to an earlier heart condition. Herzberg graduated Vorschule shortly after his father's death.He married Luise Oettinger, a spectroscopist and fellow researcher in 1929. (Luise Herzberg, died in 1971.)

Nazi Persecution and Immigration to Canada

In 1933, theNazi Partyintroduced a law banning men with Jewish wives from teaching at universities. Herzberg was working as a lecturer at the university inDarmstadt.His wife and fellow researcher, Luise Herzberg, was Jewish so they began making plans to leave Germany near the end of 1933. Leaving Germany was a daunting task as many barriers faced the thousands of Germans trying to flee Nazi persecution. However Herzberg had earlier worked with a visiting physical chemist named John Spinks, from theUniversity of Saskatchewan.Spinks helped Herzberg get a job at the university in Saskatoon. When Herzberg and his wife left Germany in 1935, the Nazis let them take only the equivalent of $2.50 each and personal belongings.

Education and career

Initially, Herzberg considered a career inastronomy,but his application to theHamburg Observatorywas returned advising him not to pursue a career in the field without private financial support.After completing high school at theGelehrtenschule des Johanneums,Herzberg continued his education atDarmstadt University of Technologywith the help of a private scholarship.Herzberg completed his Dr.-Ing. degree underHans Rauin 1928.

• 1928–30 Post-doctoral work at theUniversity of GöttingenandBristol UniversityunderJames Franck,Max Born,John Lennard-Jones
• 1930Darmstadt University of Technology:Privatdozent (lecturer) and senior assistant in Physics
• 1935 Guest professor,University of Saskatchewan(Saskatoon,Canada)
• 1936–45 Professor of Physics, University of Saskatchewan
• 1939 Fellow of theRoyal Society of Canada
• 1945–8 Professor of spectroscopy,Yerkes Observatory,University of Chicago(Chicago,United States)
• 1948 Director of the Division of Pure Physics,National Research Council of Canada
• 1951 Fellow of theRoyal Societyof London
• 1957–63 Vice President of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics
• 1956–7 President of theCanadian Association of Physicists
• 1960 gives Bakerian Lecturer of the Royal Society of London
• 1965 Member of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences
• 1966–7 President of the Royal Society of Canada
• 1968 Member of the United StatesNational Academy of Sciences
• 1968 Companion of theOrder of Canada
• 1968George Fisher BakerNon-Resident Lecturer in Chemistry atCornell University(Ithaca,United States)
• 1969Willard Gibbs Award
• 1969 Distinguished Research Scientist in the recombined Division of Physics, at theNational Research Council of Canada
• 1970 Lecturer of theChemical Societyof London, receives Faraday Medal
• 1971Nobel Prize in Chemistry"for his contributions to the knowledge of electronic structure and geometry of molecules, particularly free radicals"
• 1971 Royal Medal from Royal Society of London
• 1972 Member of theAmerican Philosophical Society
• 1973-1980 Chancellor ofCarleton University(Ottawa, Ontario,Canada)
• 1981 Founding member of theWorld Cultural Council.
• 1992 Sworn into theQueen's Privy Council for Canada
• 1999 Died aged 94

Honours and awards

Herzberg's most significant award was the 1971Nobel Prize in Chemistry,which he was awarded "for his contributions to the knowledge of electronic structure and geometry of molecules, particularly free radicals".During the presentation speech, it was noted that at the time of the award, Herzberg was "generally considered to be the world's foremost molecular spectroscopist."

Herzberg was honoured with memberships or fellowships by a very large number of scientific societies, received many awards and honorary degrees in different countries. TheNSERCGerhard Herzberg Canada Gold Medal for Science and Engineering,Canada's highest research award, was named in his honour in 2000. TheCanadian Association of Physicistsalso has an annual award named in his honour. TheHerzberg Institute of Astrophysicsis named for him. He was made a member of theInternational Academy of Quantum Molecular Science.Asteroid3316 Herzbergis named after him. In 1964 he was awarded theFrederic Ives Medalby theOSA.He was later named an Honorary Member of the Society.At Carleton University, there is a building named after him that belongs to the Physics and Mathematics/Statistics Departments, Herzberg Laboratories. Herzberg was elected aFellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 1951.

The main building ofJohn Abbott CollegeinMontrealis named after him. Carleton University named the Herzberg Laboratories building after him. A public park in theCollege Parkneighbourhood ofSaskatoonalso bears his name.

Books and publications

Herzberg authored some classic works in the field of spectroscopy, includingAtomic Spectra and Atomic Structureand the encyclopaedic four volume work:Molecular Spectra and Molecular Structure,which is often called the spectroscopist's bible.The three volumes of Molecular Spectra and Molecular Structure were re-issued by Krieger in 1989, including extensive new footnotes by Herzberg. Volume IV of the series, "Constants of diatomic molecules" is purely a reference work, a compendium of known spectroscopic constants (and therefore a bibliography of molecular spectroscopy) of diatomic molecules up until 1978.

• Atomic Spectra and Atomic Structure. (Dover Books, New York, 2010,ISBN0-486-60115-3)
• The spectra and structures of simple free radicals: An introduction to molecular spectroscopy. (Dover Books, New York, 1971,ISBN0-486-65821-X).
• Molecular Spectra and Molecular Structure: I. Spectra of Diatomic Molecules. (Krieger, 1989,ISBN0-89464-268-5)
• Molecular Spectra and Molecular Structure: II. Infrared and Raman Spectra of Polyatomic Molecules. (Krieger, 1989,ISBN0-89464-269-3)
• Molecular Spectra and Molecular Structure: III. Electronic Spectra and Electronic Structure of Polyatomic Molecules. (Krieger, 1989,ISBN0-89464-270-7)
• Molecular Spectra and Molecular Structure IV. Constants of Diatomic Molecules,K. P. Huber and G. Herzberg, (Van nostrand Reinhold company, New York, 1979,ISBN0-442-23394-9).

Archives

There are Gerhard HerzbergfondsatLibrary and Archives Canadaand atNational Research Council Canada.

See also

• Herzberg bands
• Collision-induced absorption and emission
• Methylene (compound)
• Pseudo Jahn–Teller effect
• Triatomic hydrogen
• Vibronic coupling
• List of German Canadians

Further reading

• Devorkin, David H. (2000). "Obituary: Gerhard Herzberg, 1904-1999".Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society.32(4): 1669–1670.Bibcode:2000BAAS...32.1669D.
• Herschbach, Dudley (22 April 1999)."Obituary: Gerhard Herzberg (1904-99)".Nature.398(6729): 670.Bibcode:1999Natur.398..670H.doi:10.1038/19436.S2CID4302781.
• Stoicheff, Boris (2002).Gerhard Herzberg: an illustrious life in science.Ottawa: NRC Press.ISBN9780660187570.

External links

• Gerhard Herzbergon Nobelprize.orgincluding the Nobel Lecture, December 11, 1971Spectroscopic Studies of Molecular Structure
• Canadian Science and Technology Museum Hall of Fame
• Encyclopædia Britannica entry
• Order of Canada citation