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Dudley R. Herschbach
Herschbach in 2012
Born	Dudley Robert Herschbach (1932-06-18) June 18, 1932 (age 92) San Jose, California, U.S.
Alma mater	Stanford University (BS, MS) Harvard University (MA, PhD)
Known for	Molecular dynamics
Awards	ACS Award in Pure Chemistry (1965) Linus Pauling Medal (1978) RSC Michael Polanyi Medal (1981) Irving Langmuir Award (1983) Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1986) National Medal of Science (1991) American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal (2011)
Scientific career
Fields	Chemistry
Institutions	University of California, Berkeley Harvard University Freiburg University Texas A&M University
Doctoral advisor	Edgar Bright Wilson
Doctoral students	Richard N. Zare Seong Keun Kim Timothy Clark Germann

Dudley Robert Herschbach (born June 18, 1932) is an American chemist at Harvard University. He won the 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry jointly with Yuan T. Lee and John C. Polanyi "for their contributions concerning the dynamics of chemical elementary processes". Herschbach and Lee specifically worked with molecular beams, performing crossed molecular beam experiments that enabled a detailed molecular-level understanding of many elementary reaction processes. Herschbach is a member of the Board of Sponsors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

Early life and education

Herschbach was born in San Jose, California on June 18, 1932. The eldest of six children, he grew up in a rural area. He graduated from Campbell High School, where he played football. Offered both athletic and academic scholarships to Stanford University, Herschbach chose the academic. His freshman advisor, Harold S. Johnston, hired him as a summer research assistant, and taught him chemical kinetics in his senior year. His master's research involved calculating Arrhenius A-factors for gas-phase reactions. Herschbach received a B.S. in mathematics in 1954 and an M.S. in chemistry in 1955 from Stanford University.

Herschbach then attended Harvard University, where he earned an A.M. in physics in 1956 and a Ph.D. in chemical physics in 1958 under the direction of Edgar Bright Wilson. At Harvard, Herschbach examined tunnel splitting in molecules, using microwave spectroscopy. He was awarded a three-year Junior Fellowship in the Society of Fellows at Harvard, lasting from 1957 to 1959.

Research

In 1959, Herschbach joined the University of California at Berkeley, where he was appointed an assistant professor of chemistry and became an associate professor in 1961. At Berkeley, he and graduate students George Kwei and James Norris constructed a cross-beam instrument large enough for reactive scattering experiments involve alkali and various molecular partners. His interest in studying elementary chemical processes in molecular-beam reactive collisions challenged an often-accepted belief that "collisions do not occur in crossed molecular beams". The results of his studies of K + CH₃I were the first to provide a detailed view of an elementary collision, demonstrating a direct rebound process in which the KI product recoiled from an incoming K atom beam. Subsequent studies of K + Br₂ resulted in the discovery that the hot-wire surface ionization detector they were using was potentially contaminated by previous use, and had to be pre-treated to obtain reliable results. Changes to the instrumentation yielded reliable results, including the observation that the K + Br₂ reaction involved a stripping reaction, in which the KBr product scattered forward from the incident K atom beam. As the research continued, it became possible to correlate the electronic structure of reactants and products with the reaction dynamics.

In 1963, Herschbach returned to Harvard University as a professor of chemistry. There he continued his work on molecular-beam reactive dynamics, working with graduate students Sanford Safron and Walter Miller on the reactions of alkali atoms with alkali halides. In 1967, Yuan T. Lee joined the lab as a postdoctoral student, and Herschbach, Lee, and graduate students Doug MacDonald and Pierre LeBreton began to construct a "supermachine" for studying collisions such as Cl + Br₂ and hydrogen and halogen reactions.

His most acclaimed work, for which he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1986 with Yuan T. Lee and John C. Polanyi, was his collaboration with Yuan T. Lee on crossed molecular beam experiments. Crossing collimated beams of gas-phase reactants allows partitioning of energy among translational, rotational, and vibrational modes of the product molecules—a vital aspect of understanding reaction dynamics. For their contributions to reaction dynamics, Herschbach and Lee are considered to have helped create a new field of research in chemistry. Herschbach is a pioneer in molecular stereodynamics, measuring and theoretically interpreting the role of angular momentum and its vector properties in chemical reaction dynamics.

In the course of his life's work in research, Herschbach has published over 400 scientific papers. Herschbach has applied his broad expertise in both the theory and practice of chemistry and physics to diverse problems in chemical physics, including theoretical work on dimensional scaling. One of his studies demonstrated that methane is, in fact, spontaneously formed at high-pressure and high-temperature environments such as those deep in the Earth's mantle; this finding is an exciting indication of abiogenic hydrocarbon formation, meaning that the actual amount of hydrocarbons available on Earth might be much larger than conventionally assumed under the assumption that all hydrocarbons are fossil fuels. His recent work also includes a collaboration with Steven Brams studying approval voting.

Science and education

Hershbach's teaching ranges from graduate seminars on chemical kinetics to an introductory undergraduate course in general chemistry that he taught for many years at Harvard, and described as his "most challenging assignment".

Herschbach has been a strong proponent of science education and science among the general public, and frequently gives lectures to students of all ages, imbuing them with his infectious enthusiasm for science and his playful spirit of discovery. Herschbach has also lent his voice to the animated television show The Simpsons for the episode "Treehouse of Horror XIV", where he is seen presenting the Nobel Prize in Physics to Professor Frink.

In October 2010, Herschbach participated in the USA Science and Engineering Festival's Lunch with a Laureate program, where middle and high school students get to engage in an informal conversation with a Nobel Prize-winning scientist over a brown-bag lunch. He is also a member of the Festival's advisory board. Herschbach has participated in the Distinguished Lecture Series of the Research Science Institute (RSI), a summer research program for high school students held at MIT.

Although still an active research professor at Harvard, he joined the Texas A&M University faculty September 1, 2005, as a professor of physics, teaching one semester per year in the chemical physics program. As of 2010, he holds the title of professor emeritus at Harvard and remains well known for his involvement as a lecturer and mentor in the Harvard research community. He and his wife Georgene Herschbach also served for several years as the co-Masters of Currier House, where they were highly involved in undergraduate life in addition to their full-time duties.

Public service

He is a board member of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation and was the chairman of the board for Society for Science & the Public from 1992 to 2010. Herschbach is a member of the Board of Sponsors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. In 2003 he was one of 22 Nobel Laureates who signed the Humanist Manifesto.

He is also an Eagle Scout and recipient of the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award (DESA).

Family

Herschbach's wife, Georgene Herschbach, served as the Associate Dean of Harvard College for Undergraduate Academic Programs. Prior to retirement in 2009, she chaired Harvard College's influential Committee on Undergraduate Education.

Awards and honors

Herschbach is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society and the Royal Chemical Society of Great Britain. In addition to the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, he has received a wide variety of national and international awards. These include the National Medal of Science, the ACS Award in Pure Chemistry, the Linus Pauling Medal, the Irving Langmuir Award, the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement, and the American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal. He endowed the Herschbach Medal, which is given by the biennial Conference on Molecular Collision Dynamics, to recognize "oustanding theoretical and experimental contributions to the field."

Publications

• Resources in your library
• Resources in other libraries

• Online books
• Resources in your library
• Resources in other libraries

• Herschbach, D. R. & V. W. Laurie. "Anharmonic Potential Constants and Their Dependence Upon Bond Length", University of California, Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Berkeley, United States Department of Energy (through predecessor agency the Atomic Energy Commission) (January 1961).
• Herschbach, D. R. "Reactive Collisions in Crossed Molecular Beams", University of California, Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Berkeley, United States Department of Energy (through predecessor agency the Atomic Energy Commission) (February 1962).
• Laurie, V. W. & D. R. Herschbach. "The Determination of Molecular Structure from Rotational Spectra", Stanford University, University of California, Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Berkeley, United States Department of Energy (through predecessor agency the Atomic Energy Commission) (July 1962).
• Zare, R. N. & D. R. Herschbach. "Proposed Molecular Beam Determination of Energy Partition in the Photodissociation of Polyatomic Molecules", University of California, Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Berkeley, United States Department of Energy (through predecessor agency the Atomic Energy Commission) (January 29, 1964).

References

1. ^ "Press Release: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1986 Dudley R. Herschbach, Yuan T. Lee, John C. Polanyi". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media. Retrieved April 28, 2015.
2. "Dudley Herschbach". dudley-herschbach.faculty.chemistry.harvard.edu. Retrieved November 5, 2024.
3. "Dudley Robert Herschbach". www.chemistry.msu.edu. July 23, 2024 . Archived from the original on July 23, 2024. Retrieved November 5, 2024.
4. ^ Farrar, James (1993). "1986 Nobel Laureate, Dudley R. Herschbach". In James, Laylin K. (ed.). Nobel laureates in chemistry 1901–1992. Philadelphia, PA: Chemical Heritage Foundation. pp. 686–692. ISBN 978-0841226906.
5. ^ "Dudley R. Herschbach – Biographical". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media. Retrieved April 28, 2015.
6. ^ Nguyen, Eliza M. (May 25, 2011). "Dudley Herschbach Nobel Prize Winner". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved April 28, 2015.
7. "Dudley Herschbach: Chemical Reactions and Molecular Beams". DOE R&D Accomplishments. United States Department of Energy. Retrieved April 28, 2015.
8. "Google Scholar search". Retrieved December 9, 2010.
9. Scott, H. P.; Hemley, R. J.; Mao, H.-k.; Herschbach, D. R.; Fried, L. E.; Howard, W. M.; Bastea, S. (2004). "Generation of methane in the Earth's mantle: In situ high pressure–temperature measurements of carbonate reduction". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 101 (39): 14023–14026. Bibcode:2004PNAS..10114023S. doi:10.1073/pnas.0405930101. PMC 521091. PMID 15381767.
10. Brams, Steven J.; Herschbach, DR (2001). "The Science of Elections". Science. 292 (5521): 1449. doi:10.1126/science.292.5521.1449. PMID 11379606. S2CID 28262658.
11. Herschbach, Dudley R. "The Scientist as Educator and Public Citizen: Linus Pauling and His Era". Oregon State University Libraries. Retrieved October 29, 2007.
12. Friedman, Claire G. (November 3, 2003). "Chem Professor Nets "Simpsons" Cameo". The Harvard Crimson. Retrieved April 28, 2015.
13. "Lunch with a Laureate". Usasciencefestival.org. Archived from the original on April 21, 2010. Retrieved December 9, 2010.
14. "Advisors". Usasciencefestival.org. Archived from the original on April 21, 2010. Retrieved December 9, 2010.
15. "Research Science Institute at MIT Hosts 81 High School Students". Center for Excellence in Education. June 24, 2013. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016.
16. ^ Hutchins, Shana (March 10, 2005). "Nobel Prize Winner to Join Physics Faculty". Science Texas A&M University. Retrieved April 28, 2015.
17. ^ Lupton, Neil (2004). "Scouts-L Youth Group List". Listerv. Retrieved June 1, 2006.
18. "Board of Sponsors". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Archived from the original on May 9, 2018. Retrieved April 28, 2015.
19. "Notable Signers". Humanism and Its Aspirations. American Humanist Association. Archived from the original on October 5, 2012. Retrieved October 2, 2012.
20. Lupton, Neil (2005). "Scouts-L Youth Group List". Listerv. Retrieved June 1, 2006.
21. "Georgene Herschbach To Become Associate Dean of Harvard College". Harvard University Gazette. June 13, 1996. Retrieved April 28, 2015.
22. Mitchell, Robert (February 3, 2005). "Dingman, Herschbach take on new College roles". Harvard University Gazette.
23. "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement". www.achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement.
24. "American Institute of Chemists Gold Medal". Science History Institute. March 22, 2018.
25. "About – 28th Dynamics of Molecular Collisions Conference". sites.mst.edu. Retrieved 2024-11-13.

External links

• Dudley R. Herschbach on Nobelprize.org
• Video of a talk by Herschbach on Linus Pauling

v t e Laureates of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
1901–1925	1901: Jacobus van 't Hoff 1902: Emil Fischer 1903: Svante Arrhenius 1904: William Ramsay 1905: Adolf von Baeyer 1906: Henri Moissan 1907: Eduard Buchner 1908: Ernest Rutherford 1909: Wilhelm Ostwald 1910: Otto Wallach 1911: Marie Curie 1912: Victor Grignard / Paul Sabatier 1913: Alfred Werner 1914: Theodore Richards 1915: Richard Willstätter 1916 1917 1918: Fritz Haber 1919 1920: Walther Nernst 1921: Frederick Soddy 1922: Francis Aston 1923: Fritz Pregl 1924 1925: Richard Zsigmondy
1926–1950	1926: Theodor Svedberg 1927: Heinrich Wieland 1928: Adolf Windaus 1929: Arthur Harden / Hans von Euler-Chelpin 1930: Hans Fischer 1931: Carl Bosch / Friedrich Bergius 1932: Irving Langmuir 1933 1934: Harold Urey 1935: Frédéric Joliot-Curie / Irène Joliot-Curie 1936: Peter Debye 1937: Norman Haworth / Paul Karrer 1938: Richard Kuhn 1939: Adolf Butenandt / Leopold Ružička 1940 1941 1942 1943: George de Hevesy 1944: Otto Hahn 1945: Artturi Virtanen 1946: James B. Sumner / John Northrop / Wendell Meredith Stanley 1947: Robert Robinson 1948: Arne Tiselius 1949: William Giauque 1950: Otto Diels / Kurt Alder
1951–1975	1951: Edwin McMillan / Glenn T. Seaborg 1952: Archer Martin / Richard Synge 1953: Hermann Staudinger 1954: Linus Pauling 1955: Vincent du Vigneaud 1956: Cyril Hinshelwood / Nikolay Semyonov 1957: Alexander Todd 1958: Frederick Sanger 1959: Jaroslav Heyrovský 1960: Willard Libby 1961: Melvin Calvin 1962: Max Perutz / John Kendrew 1963: Karl Ziegler / Giulio Natta 1964: Dorothy Hodgkin 1965: Robert Woodward 1966: Robert S. Mulliken 1967: Manfred Eigen / Ronald Norrish / George Porter 1968: Lars Onsager 1969: Derek Barton / Odd Hassel 1970: Luis Federico Leloir 1971: Gerhard Herzberg 1972: Christian B. Anfinsen / Stanford Moore / William Stein 1973: Ernst Otto Fischer / Geoffrey Wilkinson 1974: Paul Flory 1975: John Cornforth / Vladimir Prelog
1976–2000	1976: William Lipscomb 1977: Ilya Prigogine 1978: Peter D. Mitchell 1979: Herbert C. Brown / Georg Wittig 1980: Paul Berg / Walter Gilbert / Frederick Sanger 1981: Kenichi Fukui / Roald Hoffmann 1982: Aaron Klug 1983: Henry Taube 1984: Robert Merrifield 1985: Herbert A. Hauptman / Jerome Karle 1986: Dudley R. Herschbach / Yuan T. Lee / John Polanyi 1987: Donald J. Cram / Jean-Marie Lehn / Charles J. Pedersen 1988: Johann Deisenhofer / Robert Huber / Hartmut Michel 1989: Sidney Altman / Thomas Cech 1990: Elias Corey 1991: Richard R. Ernst 1992: Rudolph A. Marcus 1993: Kary Mullis / Michael Smith 1994: George Olah 1995: Paul J. Crutzen / Mario Molina / F. Sherwood Rowland 1996: Robert Curl / Harold Kroto / Richard Smalley 1997: Paul D. Boyer / John E. Walker / Jens Christian Skou 1998: Walter Kohn / John Pople 1999: Ahmed Zewail 2000: Alan J. Heeger / Alan MacDiarmid / Hideki Shirakawa
2001–present	2001: William Knowles / Ryoji Noyori / K. Barry Sharpless 2002: John B. Fenn / Koichi Tanaka / Kurt Wüthrich 2003: Peter Agre / Roderick MacKinnon 2004: Aaron Ciechanover / Avram Hershko / Irwin Rose 2005: Robert H. Grubbs / Richard R. Schrock / Yves Chauvin 2006: Roger D. Kornberg 2007: Gerhard Ertl 2008: Osamu Shimomura / Martin Chalfie / Roger Y. Tsien 2009: Venkatraman Ramakrishnan / Thomas A. Steitz / Ada E. Yonath 2010: Richard F. Heck / Akira Suzuki / Ei-ichi Negishi 2011: Dan Shechtman 2012: Robert Lefkowitz / Brian Kobilka 2013: Martin Karplus / Michael Levitt / Arieh Warshel 2014: Eric Betzig / Stefan Hell / William E. Moerner 2015: Tomas Lindahl / Paul L. Modrich / Aziz Sancar 2016: Jean-Pierre Sauvage / Fraser Stoddart / Ben Feringa 2017: Jacques Dubochet / Joachim Frank / Richard Henderson 2018: Frances Arnold / Gregory Winter / George Smith 2019: John B. Goodenough / M. Stanley Whittingham / Akira Yoshino 2020: Emmanuelle Charpentier / Jennifer Doudna 2021: David MacMillan / Benjamin List 2022: Carolyn R. Bertozzi / Morten P. Meldal / Karl Barry Sharpless 2023: Moungi G. Bawendi / Louis E. Brus / Alexei I. Ekimov 2024: David Baker / Demis Hassabis / John M. Jumper

• 1932 births
• Living people
• Scientists from San Jose, California
• Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences
• National Medal of Science laureates
• Nobel laureates in Chemistry
• American Nobel laureates
• American physical chemists
• Fellows of the American Physical Society
• American people of German descent
• Stanford University alumni
• Harvard University alumni
• Harvard University faculty
• University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science faculty
• Society for Science & the Public
• Chemical physicists
• Campbell High School (California) alumni