About the Author

Gerhard Ertl was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his studies of chemical processes on solid surfaces. He is currently Professor Emeritus at the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Berlin, where he was also the Director of the Department of Physical Chemistry from 1986-2004. He has won many awards  over the years, including the Wolf Prize in Chemistry, the Karl Ziegler Prize, the Otto Hahn Prize, and the Gold Medal from the Slowak Chemical Society in 2007.  He is the acknowledged leader in the field of surface science.