Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Gerhard Ertl for Providing "the Scientific Basis of Modern Surface Chemistry". (October 11, 2007)

Gerhard Ertl, a physical chemist who retired in 2004 as director of the Fritz-Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society in Berlin, won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for developing modern methods that reveal how chemical reactions take place on metals and other surfaces.

Graham Hutchings, a physical chemist at Cardiff University, UK, told Nature the award was “extremely justifiable”. “It’s superb that the field of surface science has been recognized. He’s taken a look at how molecules interact with surfaces at a very fundamental level. The number of devices that can be made because of this fundamental understanding is immense.”

However, there has been some concern expressed that the award was not shared with Gabor Somorjai, a surface chemist from the University of California, Berkeley. Ertl and Somorjai shared the 1998 Wolf Foundation Prize in Chemistry for their work in surface science.

On the other hand Nature's Daniel Cressey reports: "The chemical community has welcomed this year’s award — not least because it has gone to a ‘proper’ chemist, rather than one who could be considered a biologist, as has happened in many recent years."

Dr Ertl received his "Nobel" phone call on his 71^st birthday.

Asked what other gifts he had been given he replied: "I got a walking stick."