The Spectra and Structures of Simple Free Radicals: An Introduction to Molecular Spectroscopy
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"Authoritative and clearly written."Applied Optics
The...)
"Authoritative and clearly written."Applied Optics
The direct observation of short-lived free radicals and the consequent study of their structure and reactions have led to important developments in almost every branch of chemistry as well as in other areas. This volume by a Nobel laureate offers an excellent introduction to the essentials of molecular spectroscopy.
The introductory chapter discusses experimental methods and illustrates the observed spectra of various molecules and free radicals. Subsequent chapters explore rotational, vibrational, and electronic energy levels of diatomic molecules and ions; radiative transitions; linear and nonlinear polyatomic radicals and ions; continuous and diffuse spectra; predissociation and pre-ionization; and recombination. The well-illustrated text features more than 100 figures and spectra. A distilled version of the author's monumental three-volume study, Molecular Spectra and Molecular Structure, it constitutes a superb resource for anyone wishing a concise but complete treatment of the fundamentals of molecular spectroscopy.
Atomic Spectra and Atomic Structure (Dover Books on Physics)
(New, and pristine. See scans and description. Mineola, NY...)
New, and pristine. See scans and description. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc., 1945 (Dover's publication date after 1944 copyright; original copyright 1937 by Prentice-Hall. Second edition, modern printing, new. 'Atomic Spectra and Atomic Structure', by Gerhard Herzberg, translated by J.W.T. Spinks. Octavo, illustrated perfect-bound wraps, 286 pp. (xiv + 257 + 15 pp Dover catalog). New, and pristine. See scans. Ships in a new, sturdy, protective box - not a bag. LG7
Gerhard Herzberg was a German-born Canadian chemist and physicist.
Background
Born in Hamburg, Germany, on Christmas day, 1904, he was the younger son of Albin and Ella Herzberg. Gerhard early showed an interest in science. However, his life was disrupted at the age of 10 when his father died, and his mother was later forced to emigrate alone to the United States to work as a housekeeper.
Education
He originally had hoped to become an astronomer but was told by the director of a German observatory that there was no point in going into the field unless he had a private income. So he went on to take a course in engineering physics, supported in part by a scholarship offered by a wealthy industrialist. He then was educated at the Darmstadt Technical University. Having obtained his doctorate in 1928, he spent the following year at the University of Gottingen. He received honorary degrees from 35 universities.
Career
His genius showed early, and by the age of 24 he had already published 12 papers on atomic and molecular physics. In 1924 he embarked on work in the area that eventually brought him his Nobel award. After reading Sommerfeld's classic book on atomic structure and spectral lines he fixed on spectroscopy - the study of light waves and other radiation which molecules and atoms can be made to emit or absorb - as his central scientific interest. At the University of Gottingen he and a group of other young physicists eagerly applied the principles of quantum mechanics to obtain a fuller understanding of the electronic structures of atoms and molecules. In 1929 he spent a second post-doctoral year at the University of Bristol in England where he photographed and analyzed the spectra of phosphorus carbide molecules, among others. During this year he returned briefly to Gottingen.
From 1930 to 1935 he worked as a privatodozent at Darmstadt Technical University. A privatodozent in the German academic system is able to give private lectures at the university for which he receives a fee. In addition, Herzberg supervised undergraduate laboratories. At Darmstadt he collaborated in research with the Hungarian-born inventor of the hydrogen bomb, Edward Teller. He also began the first of his attempts to apply his spectroscopic efforts to astrophysics - in this case, the oxygen molecule observed in the atmosphere of the sun.
In 1933 he began to look for work outside of Germany because the Nazis introduced laws banning professors with Jewish wives from teaching at universities. His wife had already begun collaborating with him on a number of papers. In 1935 a former student of his named John Spinks obtained for him a post at the unlikely site of the University of Saskatchewan, located in the middle of the Canadian prairies. He arrived there with the equivalent of $2. 50 in his pocket.
Even though the university was nearly bankrupt, Herzberg was able to turn it into a world center for spectrographic research in the ten years he stayed there.
While in Saskatchewan he started his work on "free radicals. " These are molecular fragments which appear for millioneths of a second when molecules are breaking apart and combining in new structures. These chemical reactions are of increasing interest to atmospheric scientists who are studying their relation to pollution in the Earth's upper atmosphere. "Knowledge of their (free radicals) importance is of fundamental importance to our understanding of how chemical reactions proceed, " said the Nobel committee in giving Herzberg his prize.
It took Herzberg 14 years of research before he could identify one of these free radicals.
Herzberg also was one of the first to suggest the existence of molecules in space. His claim was initially disputed by other scientists who thought that the ultraviolet rays which are partially blocked out by the Earth's atmosphere would break down all space-born molecules into simple elements.
Herzberg also was able to identify some of the elements that make up comets from spectrographic readings. Before he left Germany, Herzberg completed the first of his classic books of spectroscopy, entitled Atomic Spectra and Atomic Structure (1937, 1944). Barred from working on major wartime research during much of World War II because he was legally an alien, Herzberg produced the first two volumes of his three-volume work on the structure and spectra of molecules (Molecular Spectra and Molecular Structure, 1939, 1945, 1966). Toward the end of the war the Canadian government put his talents to work analyzing the detonation characteristics of explosives.
In 1945 Herzberg went to Yerkes Observatory, which belongs to the University of Chicago, and stayed there for three years. It was in Chicago that his youthful interest in astronomy and his chemical training were reunited in an extensive analysis of various stellar substances.
Unhappy with living in Chicago, he returned to Canada in 1948 to become director of physics at the Canadian government's National Research Council (NRC) in Ottawa, Ontario. At the NRC he became a mentor for several generations of Canadian and foreign researchers, impressing them with the unfailing good humor with which he approached life and an almost superhuman capacity for work. When he reached retirement age in 1969, the NRC created its highest grade, distinguished research officer, to allow him to continue his personal research. This he continued to do into his 80's. He lectured extensively around the world.
(New, and pristine. See scans and description. Mineola, NY...)
Politics
He became a leading spokesman against Canadian government efforts to gain more political control over science. He remained a strong advocate of pure research in a Canadian political milieu that increasingly emphasized industry-directed research.
Views
Quotations:
About his method of approaching science, Herzberg said in 1984, "In a good sense, I am like a beaver . .. I don't have all that many problems which are brilliant but if it is a problem I think is important I persist in it. "
Membership
He was a Fellow of the Royal Society.
Interests
In the region around Ottawa he was able to continue his life-long love of hiking and regularly entertained colleagues and friends alike with his other passion-German lieder singing.
Connections
In 1929 Herzberg married Luise Dettinger, a Jewish physics student. This marriage was to have significant ramifications in Herzberg's life after the Nazis came to power. Their son Paul, born in 1936, was followed by the daughter Agnes, born in 1938. His wife died in 1971. In 1972 he married Monika Tenthoff, the niece of a close friend he had known during high school.