The Royal Swedish Academy of
Science.
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The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded the Nobel Prize
in Chemistry for 2007 to Gerhard Ertl of Fritz-Haber-Institut der
Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Berlin, Germany "for his studies of
chemical processes on solid surfaces."
Ertl is attributed with groundbreaking studies in surface
chemistry. This science is important for the international chemical
industry as it helps us to understand such varied processes as why iron
rusts, how fuel cells function, and how the catalysts in our cars work.
Chemical reactions on catalytic surfaces play a vital role in many
industrial operations such as the production of artificial fertilizers.
Surface chemistry can even explain the destruction of the ozone layer,
as vital steps in the reaction actually take place on the surfaces of
small crystals of ice in the stratosphere. The semiconductor industry is
yet another area that depends on knowledge of surface chemistry.
The modern science of surface chemistry began to emerge in the
1960s thanks to processes developed in the semiconductor industry. Ertl
was one of the first to see the potential of these new techniques.
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