Gerhard Herzberg is known as the founding father of molecular spectroscopy, the science that observes the interaction of energy with matter to obtain information about the identity and structure of molecules. For his contributions to the knowledge of the elctronic structure and geometry of molecules, especially free radicals, Herzberg became the first Canadian to receive the Nobel Prize for chemistry, in 1971. Herzberg also did pioneering work in other scientific fields, including astrophysics, and, in association with the National Research Council of Canada, he founded the nation's premier molecular spectroscopy laboratory in 1948.

Herzberg was born on December 25, 1904, to Albin and Ella (Biber) Herzberg. Raised and schooled in Hamburg, Germany, Herzberg graduated in 1927 from the Darmstadt Institute of Technology, with a B.S. in engineering. In 1928, he completed his Ph.D. with a thesis on the interaction of electromagnetic radiation with matter. Herzberg also studied at the Univeristy of G...