Preface

1 Youth and education
1.1 The beginnings
1.2 University studies
1.3 Diploma thesis
1.4 Doctorate

2 University teacher
2.1 Habilitation
2.2 Professor in Hanover
2.3 Professor in Munich
2.3.1 The mechanism of ammonia synthesis

3 Director at the Fritz Haber Institute
3.1 Preface
3.2 Real catalysis
3.3 Dynamics of surface processes
3.4 Electronic excitations in surface reactions
3.5 Surface processes on the atomic scale
3.6 Electrochemical micromachining
3.7 Oscillating reactions and nonlinear dynamics

4 (Un-)retirement
4.1 Emeritus status
4.2 Teaching and organization of science
4.3 Awards
4.4 The role of music

5 About the limits of the knowledge of nature
5.1 Where do we stand?
5.2 Chemistry - a completed science?
5.2.1 The stable equilibria
5.2.2 The binding forces
5.2.3 The rates
5.2.4 The unstable equilibria

Appendix
Epilogue
Vita
Chemistree
Holographs
Publications
Links
Image sources
Index

Who has had the luck to receive the Nobel Prize as a surprise birthday present? The answer is Gerhard Ertl, born in 1936.

In his youth he was interested in music, chemistry, and physics, and started university in Stuttgart followed by Paris and Munich. The door to research opened itself in his diploma thesis. His courage showed itself early on when he was a PhD student, and led him to the novel field of surface science and so to heterogeneous catalysis where he became one of the great pioneers.

He discovered at an atomic level the mechanisms and kinetics of ammonia synthesis and CO oxidation. He identified the "active centers" of catalysts-and his line of thought shaped current heterogeneous catalysis that is so important for modern industry and society. Time after time he set out basic concepts for solving important scientific and technical problems-with patience and without any fuss. Typical for Gerhard Ertl!

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