© Copyright 1997 by the American Chemical Society
VOLUME 101, NUMBER 14, APRIL 3, 1997
Photo by Marianne Kischke
Heinz Gerischer March 31, 1919-September 14, 1994
A Personal Note I first met Heinz Gerischer in 1975. I had only recently joined the Materials Science Center of the Allied Chemical Corporation in Morristown, NJ, to begin research on the photoelectrochemistry of semiconductor-liquid interfaces, and to participate in the creation and development of a new field: photoelectrochemical energy conversion. The genesis of this field can be S1089-5647(97)00545-2 CCC: $14.00
attributed to the energy crisis of 1973-74 and the 1972 paper in Nature by Fujishima and Honda, which first pointed out the potential application of semiconductor-liquid interfaces to solar energy conversion. However, the neonatal field also had a godfather, and his name was Heinz Gerischer. Starting in 1960, Heinz pioneered the basic framework for semiconductor electrochemistry with a series of seminal papers © 1997 American Chemical Society
2390 J. Phys. Chem. B, Vol. 101, No. 14, 1997 that presented a model of the semiconductor-liquid interface that still guides much of the work in this field to this day. I invited Heinz to Allied in 1975 to present a colloquium, and thus was first exposed to his extraordinary ability to present scientific concepts in a clear and immediately understandable style; this is the hallmark of outstanding scientists. As one colleague said to me after a vigorous discussion with Heinz: “it’s like a light bulb was turned on”. In subsequent years, as the field of photoelectrochemistry exploded from a handful of annual papers before 1975 to perhaps 1000 per year afterward, I enjoyed many scientific and social interactions with Heinz Gerischer. We exchanged many visits to our respective laboratories and to our homes; I fondly remember the wonderful hospitality and thoughtfulness displayed by Heinz and his wife Renate at their home next to the Fritz Haber Institute in Berlin. I also recall the long, stimulating, and insightful discussions that my associates and I had with
Nozik Heinz in New Jersey, in Colorado, and at conferences; at the latter I noted how he loved to dance with the ladies, enjoy the music, and hike or ski. Heinz Gerischer was a gracious, kind, and learned human being with a deep love of science and a deep curiosity that remained prominent features of his personality until his sudden death in 1994. His life’s work has left a lasting impact in the various areas of electrochemistry and photoelectrochemistry in which he was engaged. He will be missed by all of his colleagues and friends. Finally, the Guest Editors and I would like to thank the following individuals who provided invaluable help in collecting information about Professor Gerischer for this memorial issue: Ingeborg Reinhardt, Margot Luebke, Frank Willig, Josef Holzwarth, Bruno Pettinger, and Wolfgang Ranke.
Arthur J. Nozik, Senior Editor
