Gerhard Herzberg is known as the founding father of molecular spectroscopy , the science that observes the interaction of energy with matter to obtain information on the identity and structure of molecules. For his "contributions to the knowledge of the electronic structure and geometry of molecules, especially free radicals," in 1971 Herzberg became the first Canadian to be honored by the Nobel Prize in chemistry. 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 December 25, 1904, to Albin and Ella (Biber) Herzberg. Raised and schooled in Hamburg, Germany, Herzberg graduated from the Darmstadt Institute of Technology with a B.S. in engineering in 1927. In 1928 he completed his Ph.D. with a thesis on the interaction of electromagnetic radiation with matter. Herzberg also studied at the University of...