German Chemist Wins Nobel Prize
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STOCKHOLM — Gerhard Ertl of Germany won the 2007 Nobel Prize in chemistry today for studies of chemical reactions on solid surfaces, which are key to understanding questions like how pollution eats away at the ozone layer.
Mr. Ertl’s research laid the foundation of modern surface chemistry, which has helped explain how fuel cells produce energy without pollution, how catalytic converters clean up car exhaust, and even why even why iron rusts, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said.
His work has paved the way for development of cleaner energy sources and will guide the development of fuel cells, the secretary of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, Astrid Graslund, said.
Mr. Ertl, who won the prize on his 71st birthday, told reporters that it “is the best birthday present that you can give to somebody.”
“I am speechless,” Mr. Ertl said from his office in Berlin. “I was not counting on this.”
Mr. Ertl is an emeritus professor at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society in Berlin.
