Oral history interview with Gerhard Herzberg
- 1986-May-05
Oral history interview with Gerhard Herzberg
- 1986-May-05
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.Gerhard Herzberg descries his schooling in Germany. An interest in science and mathematics was kindled at his school in Hamburg; indeed, Herzberg's first interest was astronomy. More practical considerations led him to follow the engineering physics course at Darmstadt, where he graduated with his doctoral degree in 1928. His introduction to spectrospic studies was with Hans Rau, himself a student of Wien. A seminal year at Gottingen followed where Herzberg studied with both James Franck and Max Born; it was during this time that the basis for the well known monographs was first established.
A further postdoctoral year at Bristol with Lennard Jones was followed by his return to Darmstadt as Privatdozent but the worsening political situation prompted Herzberg to seek a position abroad. He next describes his time at the University of Saskatchewan and how he was able to continue research, despite limited equipment. Analysis of cometary spectra led Herzberg into astrophysics which was further developed during the three year spell at the Yerkes Observatory. During the final section of the interview, Herzberg tells of his return to Canada and reflects on research direction at the National Research Council and the circumstances of the award of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1971. As a coda, Herzberg is asked about his involvement with chemists, especially with those concerned with free radicals.
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About the Interviewer
Mary Christine King was born in China and educated in Ireland. She obtained a BSc degree in chemistry from the University of London in 1968, which was followed by an MSc in polymer and fiber science (1970) and a PhD for a thesis on the hydrodynamic properties of paraffins in solution (1973), both from the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. After working with Joseph Needham at Cambridge, she received a PhD in the history and philosophy of science from the Open University (1980) and thereafter worked at the University of California, Berkeley, and at the University of Ottawa, where she carried out research with Dr. Keith Laidler. King died in an automobile accident in late 1987; her recent biography E. W. R. Steacie and Science in Canada (University of Toronto Press, 1989) was published posthumously.
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| Oral history number | 0023 |
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Interviewee biographical information
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Education
| Year | Institution | Degree | Discipline |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1928 | Technische Universität Darmstadt | Dr Ing |
Professional Experience
Universität Göttingen
- 1928 to 1929 Post-doctoral fellow
University of Bristol
- 1929 to 1930 Post-doctoral fellow
Technische Universität Darmstadt
- 1930 to 1935 Privatdozent
University of Saskatchewan
- 1935 to 1945 Research Professor of Physics
University of Chicago
- 1945 to 1948 Professor of Spectroscopy, Yerkes Observatory
National Research Council Canada
- 1948 to 1949 Principal Research Officer
- 1949 to 1955 Director, Division of Physics
- 1955 to 1969 Director, Division of Pure Physics
- 1969 Distinguished Research Scientist, Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics
Honors
| Year(s) | Award |
|---|---|
| 1939 | Fellow, Royal Society of Canada |
| 1950 | Médaille de l'Université de Liège |
| 1951 | Fellow, Royal Society of London |
| 1953 | LLD , University of Saskatchewan |
| 1953 | Henry Marshall Tory Medal, Royal Society of Canada |
| 1954 | Joy Kissen Mookerjee Gold Medal, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science |
| 1954 | DSc, McMaster University |
| 1954 | Honorary Fellow, Indian Academy of Sciences |
| 1956 to 1957 | President, Canadian Association of Physicists |
| 1956 | DSc, National University of Ireland |
| 1957 to 1963 | Vice-President, International Union of Pure and Applied Physics |
| 1957 | Gold Medal, Canadian Association of Physicists |
| 1958 | LLD, University of Toronto |
| 1959 to 1960 | Chair Francqui, Université de Liège |
| 1959 | Medal of the Society of Applied Spectroscopy |
| 1960 | Médaille de L'Université de Liège |
| 1960 | Bakerian Lecture, Royal Society of London |
| 1960 | Corresponding Member, Société Royal des Sciences de Liège |
| 1960 | LLD, Dalhousie University |
| 1960 | DSc, Oxford University |
| 1961 | LLD, University of Alberta |
| 1962 | Pittsburgh Spectroscopy Award, Spectroscopy Society of Pittsburgh |
| 1963 | Twelfth Spiers Memorial Lecture, Faraday Society |
| 1964 | Frederic Ives Medal, Optical Society of America |
| 1964 | William Draper Harkins Lecture, University of Chicago |
| 1964 | DSc, University of British Columbia |
| 1964 | Honorary Member, Hungarian Academy of Sciences |
| 1964 | Academician, Pontifical Academy of Sciences |
| 1965 | Honorary Foreign Member, American Academy of Arts and Sciences |
| 1965 | DSc, Queen's University, Kingston |
| 1966 | DSc, University of New Brunswick |
| 1966 | Dr fil hed, University of Stockholm |
| 1967 | DSc, University of Chicago |
| 1967 | DSc, Carleton University |
| 1968 | Doctor rerum naturalium University of Göttingen |
| 1968 | DSc, Memorial University, Newfoundland |
| 1968 | Honorary Member, Optical Society of America |
| 1968 | Honorary Fellow, Chemical Society of London [now Royal Society of Chemistry] |
| 1968 | Foreign Associate, National Academy of Sciences, Washington |
| 1968 | Companion of the Order of Canada |
| 1968 | George Fisher Baker Non-Resident Lecturer in Chemistry, Cornell University |
| 1969 | Willard Gibbs Medal, American Chemical Society |
| 1969 | Gold Medal, Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada |
| 1969 | Honorary Member, Society for Applied Spectroscopy |
| 1969 | DSc, York University |
| 1970 | DSc, University of Windsor |
| 1970 | Honorary Member, Royal Irish Academy |
| 1970 | Honorary Fellow, Chemical Institute of Canada |
| 1970 | Honorary Member, Spectroscopy Society of Canada |
| 1970 | Faraday Medal, Chemical Society of London |
| 1971 | Royal Medal, Royal Society of London |
| 1971 | Linus Pauling Medal, American Chemical Society |
| 1971 | Nobel Prize in Chemistry |
| 1971 | DSc, Royal Military College of Canada |
| 1972 | DSc, Drexel University |
| 1972 | LLD, St. Francis Xavier University |
| 1972 | DSc, University of Montreal |
| 1972 | LLD, Simon Fraser University |
| 1972 | DSc, Université de Sherbrooke |
| 1972 | DSc, Cambridge University |
| 1972 | DSc, McGill University |
| 1972 | Foreign Member, American Philosophical Society |
| 1972 | Chemical Institute of Canada Medal |
| 1973 | Chancellor, Carleton University |
| 1973 | Honorary Member, International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science |
| 1973 | Honorary Fellow, Indian Chemical Society |
| 1973 | DSc, University of Manitoba |
| 1974 | Docotr rerum naturalium, University of Hamburg |
| 1974 | Foreign Fellow, Indian National Science Academy |
| 1974 | Honorary Member, La Asociacion de Quimicos Farmaceuticos de Columbia |
| 1974 | Foreign Associate, Royal Academy of Belgium |
| 1974 | Madison Marshall Award, North Alabama Section, American Chemical Society |
| 1975 | DSc, University of Bristol |
| 1975 | DSc, Andhra University |
| 1976 | DSc, Osmania University |
| 1976 | DSc, University of Delhi |
| 1976 | DPhil, Weizmann Institute of Science |
| 1976 | DSc, University of Western Ontario |
| 1976 | ACS Centennial Foreign Fellow, American Chemical Society |
| 1976 | Honorary Member, Japan Academy |
| 1978 | Honorary Member, Chemical Society of Japan |
| 1978 | Honorary Member, Real Sociedad Espanola de Fisica y Quimica |
| 1979 | DSc, Laval University |
| 1980 | Member, European Academy of Arts, Sciences and Humanities |
| 1981 | Foreign Member (Physics), Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences |
| 1983 | Doctor philosophiae naturalis, University of Frankfurt |
| 1984 | DPhil, University of Toledo |
| 1985 | Earle K. Plyler Prize, American Physical Society |
| 1986 | Korrespondierendes Mitglied, Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften |
| 1987 | Jan Marcus Marci Memorial Medal, Czechoslovak Spectroscopy Society |
| 1987 | Minor Planet 3316=1984 CN1 named Herzberg |
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Complete transcript of interview
The published version of the transcript may diverge from the interview audio due to edits to the transcript made by staff of the Center for Oral History, often at the request of the interviewee, during the transcript review process.