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.