2007 Chemistry Nobel Prize Winner: Prof Gerhard Ertl

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2007 was awarded to Gerhard Ertl (Germany, 1936) "for his studies of chemical processes on solid surfaces". 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.

Gerhard Ertl - Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Berlin, Germany.

Gerhard Ertl is a member of the Advisory Editorial Board for Elsevier's Chemical Physics Letters and formerly a handling editor for both Surface Science and Surface Science Reports.

In recognition of the importance of his work, Elsevier is pleased to offer open access to key articles that Gerhard Ertl has published with them.

Polynuclear metal carbonyl compounds and chemisorption of CO on transition metal surfaces
Chemical Physics Letters
Volume 42, Issue 1, 15 August 1976, Pages 115-118
H. Conrad, Gerhard Ertl, H. Knözinger, J. Küppers and E. E. Latta

The role of potassium in the catalytic synthesis of ammoniaChemical Physics Letters
Volume 60, Issue 3, 15 January 1979, Pages 391-394
Gerhard Ertl, M. Weiss and S. B. Lee

Adsorption and thermal decomposition of ammonia on a Ni(110) surface - isolation and identification of adsorbed NH2 and NH
Surface Science
Volume 175, Issue 11, 1986
Bassignana, Wagemann, Kuppers and Gerhard Ertl

Adsorption of hydrogen on a Pt(111) surface
Surface Science
Volume 54, Issue 2, 1976
Christmann, Gerhard Ertl and Pignet

 

Gerhard Ertl
Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Berlin, Germany

View a video clip of the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony