Nobel Prize a ‘birthday gift’ for chemistry genius

GERHARD ERTL from Germany won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry yesterday, his 71st birthday.

He was honoured for work that has become invaluable to the modern chemical industry and has helped the fight to fix the ozone hole.

“This science is important for the chemical industry and can help us to understand such varied processes as why iron rusts, how fuel cells function and how the catalysts in our cars work,” the jury said in its citation.

It can also explain why Earth’s protective ozone layer is damaged through chemical reactions on the surfaces of minute ice crystals in the stratosphere, the panel added.

Ertl is a professor emeritus at Berlin’s Fritz Haber Institute, which is part of the Max Planck Society.

The Nobel Committee lauded him as a forerunner in surface chemistry, a branch that evolved in the 1960s, and one of the first to understand the potential of modern technology for exploring the new field.

Ertl’s achievement was to build a rigorous, step-by-step experimental method to build up a complete picture of a chemical reaction on a solid surface.

Born on October 10, 1936 in Bad Cannstadt, Ertl has received many honours and awards in his career.

“I was speechless at first when I got the news from Stockholm,” Ertl said. “Mainly I feel proud.”

He said the honour was a once-in-a-lifetime birthday present. The 2007 laureate receives a gold medal, a diploma and €1.08 million.