Dr. Gerhard Herzberg and The Prize

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By Denisa Popa

In Gerhard Herzberg: An Illustrious Life in Science, Boris Stoicheff recalls the amusing way in which Herzberg found out he had received the Nobel Prize. On November 2nd, 1971, as Herzberg was seated on a train waiting to leave Leningrad station, the Secretary of the Soviet Academy of Science ran up to his cabin and informed him he had won the Nobel Prize in Physics.[1] This was well before smartphones, of course, so Herzberg, stuck in this train, had no way to contact his colleagues and family back in Canada. He spent the next six hours by himself on the train wondering why he had won the Nobel Prize in Physics and not Chemistry.[2]

“Gerhard Herzberg, Nobel Award Certificate, Dec. 1971” Dr. Gerhard Herzberg Fond, National Research Council of Canada.

The confusion was cleared up once he arrived and learned that the award was, indeed, for chemistry. Herzberg’s memorable experience was not the last time a Nobel laureate found out they’d won the prize while stuck in transit. In 1991, Richard Ernst found out he won, for chemistry, while on an airplane traveling from Moscow to New York.[3] As he recalls in this video, the captain came to his seat mid-flight to personally inform him of the news. Ernst recounts going to the plane’s cockpit to call his family.[4]

Herzberg’s Nobel journey began in 1958, when he was first nominated for the chemistry prize[5] – something he wouldn’t have known about at the time (nominations remain secret for 50 years). His work had been gaining international recognition at the time. According to Izabel Dabrowski, a former member of Dr. Herzberg’s lab, when she informed Alex Douglas, another colleague, of the news, his response was, “We were expecting this.”[6]

On December 10th, 1971, Herzberg finally did win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. At the ceremony in Oslo, Prof. Stig Claesson introduced him as “the world’s foremost molecular spectroscopist,” and commented that his work has “influenced scientific progress in almost all branches of chemistry.”[7]

The question is, why did it take the Nobel juries so long to recognize Herzberg’s achievements? While we may never definitively know the answer, we can contemplate (and celebrate) why he ultimately did win, and how his victory relates to the values and politics associated with the Nobel Prize. Indeed, his win not only represented a defining moment in Canadian science history, but also revolutionized the entire field of chemistry.[8]

The Nobel Prize

The first Nobel Prizes were awarded in 1901. They were established and named after Alfred Nobel, a chemical engineer from Sweden who became famous for his invention of dynamite. When he died in 1896, his will instructed that the majority of his estate was to be held in a trust and used to sponsor annual prizes given to “those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind.”[9] To support his bequest, the Nobel Foundation was established in 1900 to oversee the presentation of awards in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace. In 1968, a separate prize was added for economic sciences.[10] While the Foundation facilitates the awards, the winners are selected by outside organizations. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences selects the winner of the prize in chemistry.

In order to be considered for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, you must first be nominated. The nomination process happens behind closed doors. In fact, due to confidentiality procedures the list of nominees for any particular year only becomes public after 50 years have passed. The Foundation, moreover, only considers a select number of people to be “competent and qualified to nominate.”[11] (For a full list of qualified individuals see the Nobel Prize website.)

Over 3,000 nomination forms are sent out and responses are vetted by the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, which sends a preliminary list to experts for further evaluation.[12] Finally, a report is written by the Committee with their final recommendations for the Academy to consider. It is the members of the Academy who, by vote, ultimately choose the Nobel Laureate from that list.

The Nobel Prize itself is an impressive 23- karat gold medal which features the profile of Alfred Nobel on one side and, on the other, the Goddess of Nature “holding in her arms the horn of plenty as the Genius of Science lifts the veil from her eyes.”[13] For four of the prizes (physics, chemistry, medicine and literature), the medal is inscribed with a Latin aphorism: “Inventas vitam iuvat excoluisse per artes”, which means, “it is wonderful to see life enriched by the invention of the arts.”[14] This inscription resonated with Herzberg’s appreciation of both the arts and sciences, and he reflected on its meaning in 1971. “Clearly the Nobel Foundation considers the Prize in the sciences to have the same purpose as the Prize in Literature, namely, to reward contributions to the human spirit, i.e. to the cultural benefits of mankind.”[15]

While the Nobel Prize was established to honour tremendous accomplishments, it is not entirely value-free. As journalist and science writer Stephan Strauss observes in a 1984 feature in The Globe and Mail, Nobel selection committees have been influenced by factors such as international relations and debates about the value of theoretical discoveries (such as Einstein’s theory of relativity).[16] While these considerations may not apply to Herzberg, it is important for us not to lose sight of the politics and values historically associated with the Nobel Prize.

“Gerhard Herzberg, Congratulations, 1971” Dr. Gerhard Herzberg Fond, National Research Council of Canada.

The Road to the Prize

The first time Herzberg was nominated for the Nobel was in 1958– thirteen years before he would eventually win.[17] In fact, between 1958 and 1966 alone he was nominated eight times (we have no information after this year as the Nobel Prize Nomination Archive is only currently available as far back as 1966).[18] Five different individuals submitted formal nominations on Herzberg’s behalf including, P Goldfinger, Edwin B Wilson, Per Olov Lowdin, Philip George Ashmore and W Klemperer.[19] Interestingly, none of the individuals who nominated Herzberg between 1958-1966 were based out of institutions in Canada. In 1997, David Spurgeon, a journalist and science writer wrote a piece in Weekend Magazine (The Globe and Mail) in which he claimed that “Canada’s National Research Council is said to have made a strong case in support of Herzberg to the Swedish Academy of Science.”[20] Although it is unclear exactly how and when the NRC petitioned the Academy on Herzberg’s behalf, it’s clear that the NRC also knew they had a brilliant scientist within their ranks.

For many scientists who receive the Nobel Prize later in their career, it represents the achievement of a lifetime– a confirmation that their scientific work has yielded the recognition they had hoped for. For many Nobel Laureates their responsibilities change– they retire from laboratory research and focus on the responsibilities that come with being a Laureate (touring, interviews and speeches). For Herzberg, however, this was not the case. While tours, interviews and lectures did become a regular part of his life following 1971, he never stopped his pursuit for scientific knowledge and his work at the NRC. He only retired in 1994 at the age of 90.[21]

Gerhard Herzberg and The Prize

Why did Herzberg win the Nobel? The answer depends on whom you ask.

According to the official announcement by the Nobel Foundation, the prize was awarded “for his contributions to the knowledge of electronic structure and geometry of molecules, particularly free radicals.”[22] Herzberg observed the spectra of three of the best known free radicals: CH+ in 1941, CH3 in 1956 and CH2 in 1959.[23] Indeed, there is no question Herzberg’s work on free radicals greatly contributed to his win.

But Herzberg himself viewed the prize differently. During his Nobel Lecture, he noted said that the Prize was “awarded for a long series of studies extending practically over my whole scientific life.”[24] He reiterated this point during an interview with the American Institute of Physics in 1989.[25] When asked to pick the highlight of his scientific career, he replied, “I think I’d better not even try to. I feel that my scientific life has been rewarding beyond anything that I deserve.”[26] Indeed, if this series of essays has highlighted anything, it’s that Gerhard Herzberg was enormously passionate about all his work. Herzberg hadn’t pursued a career in science to win the Nobel Prize. The award, rather, was a recognition of his brilliance and devotion.

“The King of Sweden and G. H. Nobel Ceremony 1971 10 Dec.” Dr. Gerhard Herzberg Fond, National Research Council of Canada.

Canada and The Prize

Gerhard Herzberg’s Nobel Prize win not only impacted him and the NRC, but fortified Canadian science as a whole. In the NRC’s 1971-1972 “Report of the President,” Herzberg was referred to as “Canada’s outstanding scientist,” as well as “Canada’s international ambassador in the world of science.”[27] Herzberg never doubted the quality of scientific research in Canada, although many observers had a different view. On November 30th, 1971 Gerhard Herzberg gave the following remarks at a dinner held in his honour at Government House in Ottawa.

There has been a tendency on the part of the public and the press to think that with the award of a Nobel Prize the international status of Canadian science has suddenly changed. I believe that the respect for Canadian science and Canadian scientists throughout the scientific world has not changed one iota. What has changed is the public knowledge of this respect.[28]

For many years, Herzberg advocated for Canadian science and firmly believed that we should support more of the high-quality research already present in Canada. In Herzberg’s biography, Stoicheff provides some insight into what his life was like after winning the prize. “Herzberg was well aware of the added responsibilities as well as opportunities for speaking to the young about the importance and pleasures of doing science.”[29] Moreover, Stoicheff notes the political undertones that followed the Nobel win. Herzberg, he wrote, “was also being urged by colleagues to use his newly recognized prestige to defend Canadian science and the NRC from the attacks by the Senate Special Committee on Science Policy.”[30]

Denisa Popa is a Scholarly Associate with Defining Moments Canada, as well as a PhD student at the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology (IHPST) at the University of Toronto. Funding for the Herzberg50 Commemoration is provided by the Ministry of Canadian Heritage and the National Research Council of Canada.”

Defining Moments Canada is an online Canadian heritage organization dedicated to commemorating ‘definitional moments’ in our shared history through trans-disciplinary education initiatives. This organization has hosted a number of commemorative projects such as Spanish FluVEDay75Juno75and Insulin100. DMC’s approach is informed through Curatorial Thinking and the SASS framework (Selection, Archiving, Sense-Making and Sharing). This process encourages students to critically examine research material and consider their own “position in time and space” in relation to the narratives they study (Mant, 2020), Moreover, with the onset and continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic, DMC is advocating for the re-conceptualization of education to promote interdisciplinary or “syndemic” thinking.


Editor’s note: This post has been edited to correct a spelling mistake in the author’s name. We regret the error.

References

“2. Dr. Gerhard Herzberg 1971 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry” NRC Report of the President (1971-1972): (26-32). Courtesy of the National Research Council Archives.

(Video) “Recollections of Gerhard Herzberg” Defining Moments Canada

A unique gold medal. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. Sat. 28 Aug 2021. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/about/the-nobel-medals-and-the-medal-for-the-prize-in-economic-sciences

Boris Stoicheff, Gerhard Herzberg: An Illustrious Life in Science (Ottawa: NRC Press, 2002).

Documentary about Richard Ernst (1 minute). NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. Wed. 4 Nov 2021. https://www.nobelprize.org/mediaplayer/?id=424

Full text of Alfred Nobel’s will. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. Mon. 23 Aug 2021. https://www.nobelprize.org/alfred-nobel/full-text-of-alfred-nobels-will-2/

Gerhard Herzberg – Nobel Lecture. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. Thu. 26 Aug 2021. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1971/herzberg/lecture/

Gerhard Herzberg, “The Receipt of the Nobel Prize,” in The Value of Science in Society and Culture: Selections from the Speeches, Essays and Articles of G. Herzberg, eds. A.M. Herzberg and P. Dufour (Kingston: Queen’s University, School of Policy Studies, 2019), 25-28.

Harry Black. Canada and the Nobel Prize: Biographies, Portraits and Fascinating Facts. (Markham: Pembroke Publishers, 2002).

Interview of Gerhard Herzberg by Brenda P. Winnewisser on 1989 March 2,
Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD USA,
www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/5029-2

Nomination and selection of Chemistry Laureates. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. Mon. 23 Aug 2021. https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/chemistry/

Nomination and selection of economic sciences laureates. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. Thu. 4 Nov 2021. https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/economic-sciences/

Nomination Archive. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. Sun. 22 Aug 2021. https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/

Nomination Archive. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. Sun. 22 Aug 2021. https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/show_people.php?id=11155

Spurgeon, David. “The Prize” Weekend Magazine (The Globe and Mail). December 10, 1997.

Strauss, Stephen. “Nobels flavored with politics, papers show” The Globe and Mail. January 26, 1984.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1971. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. Wed. 25 Aug 2021. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1971/summary/

Notes:

[1] Boris Stoicheff, Gerhard Herzberg: An Illustrious Life in Science (Ottawa: NRC Press, 2002), xi.

[2] Ibid., xi.

[3] Documentary about Richard Ernst (1 minute). NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. Wed. 4 Nov 2021. https://www.nobelprize.org/mediaplayer/?id=424

[4] Ibid.

[5] Nomination Archive. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. Sun. 22 Aug 2021. https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/show_people.php?id=11155

[6] (Video) “Recollections of Gerhard Herzberg” Defining Moments Canada

[7] Stoicheff, An Illustrious Life, 333-334.

[8] Another defining moment in Canadian science history was the awarding of the 1923 Nobel Prize in Medicine to Drs. Frederick Banting and Charles Best for the discovery of insulin. For more on that see the Insulin100 project https://definingmomentscanada.ca/insulin100/

[9] Full text of Alfred Nobel’s will. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. Mon. 23 Aug 2021. https://www.nobelprize.org/alfred-nobel/full-text-of-alfred-nobels-will-2/

[10] Nomination and selection of economic sciences laureates. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. Thu. 4 Nov 2021. https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/economic-sciences/

[11] Nomination and selection of Chemistry Laureates. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. Mon. 23 Aug 2021. https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/chemistry/

[12] Ibid.

[13] Stoicheff, An Illustrious Life, 336.

[14] Gerhard Herzberg, “The Receipt of the Nobel Prize,” in The Value of Science in Society and Culture: Selections from the Speeches, Essays and Articles of G. Herzberg, eds. A.M. Herzberg and P. Dufour (Kingston: Queen’s University, School of Policy Studies, 2019), 27. and A unique gold medal. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. Sat. 28 Aug 2021. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/about/the-nobel-medals-and-the-medal-for-the-prize-in-economic-sciences

[15] Herzberg, “The Receipt of the Nobel Prize,”, 27.

[16] Stephen Strauss “Nobels flavored with politics, papers show” The Globe and Mail (January 26, 1984).

[17] Nomination Archive. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. Sun. 22 Aug 2021. https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/show_people.php?id=11155

[18] Ibid.

[19] Ibid.

[20] David Spurgeon “The Prize” Weekend Magazine (The Globe and Mail) (December, 10 1997), 14.

[21] Stoicheff, An Illustrious Life, 397.

[22] The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1971. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. Wed. 25 Aug 2021. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1971/summary/

[23] Stoicheff, An Illustrious Life, 396-397.

[24] Gerhard Herzberg – Nobel Lecture. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2021. Thu. 26 Aug 2021. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/chemistry/1971/herzberg/lecture/

[25] Interview of Gerhard Herzberg by Brenda P. Winnewisser on 1989 March 2,
Niels Bohr Library & Archives, American Institute of Physics, College Park, MD USA,
www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/5029-2

[26] Ibid.

[27] “2. Dr. Gerhard Herzberg 1971 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry” NRC Report of the President (1971-1972): (32). Courtesy of the National Research Council Archives.

[28] Herzberg, “The Receipt of the Nobel Prize,” 26.

[29] Stoicheff, An Illustrious Life, 343.

[30] Ibid., 343.

 

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