I was born on September 30, 1943 in Zusamaltheim, Bavaria, now Federal Republic of Germany, as the first son of Thekla and Johann Deisenhofer. After my father’s return from military service my parents ran the family farm. In 1948, our family grew to its final size with the birth of my only sister, Antonie. My…

Sir Cyril Norman Hinshelwood was born in London on June 19, 1897. He was educated at Westminster City School and Oxford University where he gained Master of Arts and Doctor of Science degrees. He held successive fellowships at Balliol, Trinity, and Exeter Colleges; he was tutor of Trinity College from 1921 to 1937 and since…

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The undisputed master of chemistry is Nature, and the variety of substances it routinely creates has long been a source of inspiration and perspiration for chemists. Investigating and recreating the natural substances essential for life is a painstaking process; their size and complexity makes anything other than the simplest compounds almost impossible to reproduce under…

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2007   In the catalysts of cars poisonous carbon monoxide reacts with oxygen to form carbon dioxide before the exhaust is emitted. This reaction takes place on a surface of platinum, for instance. Ertl has shown that the reaction is considerably more complicated than could be expected and in this…

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Nikolai Nikolaevic Semenov was born in Saratov on April 3, 1896. He graduated from Petrograd University in 1917 and in 1920 he took charge of the electron phenomena laboratory of the Leningrad Physico-Technical Institute. He lectured at the Polytechnical Institute and was appointed Professor in 1928. In 1931, he became Director of the Institute of…

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In this compilation of short, educational videos called Chemistry matters, 16 Nobel Prize laureates discuss new frontiers in their field and explore what life as a chemist entails. They also describe the beauty inherent in chemistry and recall the eureka moments when they discovered ‘a little of nature’s logic’. Chemistry matters: Beyond the textbook Learn…