Gerhard Herzberg, known as the founding father of molecular spectroscopy, 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 Gottingen and the University of Bristol in England, before returning to Darmstadt in 1930 as an instructor.

In 1935 Herzberg was forced to flee Germany as a result of Hitler's anti-Jewish policies. He subsequently obtained a position as Carnegie guest professor at the University of Saskatchewan, in Canada. While at Saskatchewan, Herzberg helped establish a graduate laboratory specializing in spectroscopy studies and obtained funding to improve the school's research facilities. Beginning in 1945, Herzberg spent three years as a professor at the Yerkes Observatory of the University...