Chemical world This week
The Top Stories The 1971 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Dr. Gerhard Herzberg for his spectrographic unraveling of electronic structure and molecular geometry 5
Possible trade with mainland China evokes many speculations. Meanwhile, a C&EN spot check shows few scientific contacts between China and the U.S. 6
The Nixon Administration is developing a major program designed to refocus federal policies on research and development 8
Chlorine output is off markedly from a year ago as most of the chemical's major outlets face declining business 10
Pollution control may become the next international trade problem. Environmental protection can add costs to exports, inhibit imports, and trigger a flow of capital and jobs to other countries 14
Organometallic reagents permit synthesis and study of increasing number of heterocycles containing metals 26
A petition seeks to enlarge ACS role in professional affairs 29
November 8, 1971
NOBEL PRIZE TO HERZBERG The 1971 Nobel Prize in Chemistry goes to Dr. Gerhard Herzberg, 66, an officially retired scientist at the National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa, for his "contributions to knowledge of electronic structure and geometry of molecules, particularly free radicals/' A soon-to-be published paper by the Germanborn Canadian on the hydrogen molecule—a paper his colleagues term important—continues the line of hard, systematic, relentless spectrographic research on simple entities that has brought him the highest prize in chemistry. The Nobel Prize in Physics honors another refugee from Hitler's Germany. Working largely in the U.S., Hungarian-born Dr. Dennis Gabor receives the award for founding the applied science of holography. Dr. Herzberg has also been elected (in August) to receive the Pauling Medal for his spectroscopy work. Sponsored by the Puget Sound and Oregon Sections of ACS, the Pauling Award will be presented in Seattle, Wash., on Dec. 4. Dr. Herzberg is the second recipient of the Pauling Medal who subsequently won the Nobel Prize the same year. Dr. Manfred Eigen received both awards in 1967. An associate remarks that what sets Dr. Herzberg apart is his clear insight into what he is doing as he painstakingly pursues often-fleeting research subjects. Dr. Herzberg has been able to synthesize a variety of techniques and theories to uncover structures and characteristics, first of diatomic and polyatomic molecules, and later, of classic free radicals such as methyl ( C H 3 ) and methylene, (CH 2 -)Dr. Herzberg's steady progress through molecular spectra dates from his early work in Germany. After obtaining his doctorate at the Darmstadt Institute of Technology, he alternated work in Germany and England before going to the University of Saskatchewan in 1935. Residing there until the end of World
War II, he wrote a book on polyatomic molecules, which like many of his treatises became the standard reference. After a three-year stay at the Yerkes Observatory at the University of Chicago, Dr. Herzberg became director of the division of physics at the National Research Council of Canada in 1948. Having retired from this post in 1969, he is now Distinguished Research Scientist in the division. During his long tenure in Ottawa, Dr. Herzberg made his laboratory the world center for molecular spectroscopy and produced many definitive discoveries in this field. Among Dr. Herzberg's present research topics are simple molecular ions and interstellar chemical reactions. The short, stocky, energetic scientist has long been active on professional committees, having a major hand in Canada's physics grants. Though not an organizer or administrator at the political level, Dr. Herzberg is an ardent, vocal advocate of noncentralized government support of basic science.
Herzberg:
systematic and relentless NOV. 8, 1971 C&EN 5
