Oral history interview with Gerhard Herzberg, 1989 February 28 and 1 March.

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Oral history interview with Gerhard Herzberg, 1989 February 28 and 1 March.

Early life in Hamburg, Germany; education at Darmstadt; postdoc period in Göttingen, and Bristol, England; setting up his own lab at Darmstadt as Privatdozent; origins of first of his series of books; departure due to Jewish heritage of wife; fresh start in Saskatoon; more books; limited war research; first direct contributions to astrophysics during the war years; three years at the Yerkes Observatory; forty years of work at the National Research Council in Ottawa; Nobel Prize. Experimental techniques include high resolution grating spectroscopy with photographic plates, very long absorption paths, continuous and flash discharge emission and absorption. Contributions in molecular quantum mechanics, quantum chemistry, astronomy and astrophysics, planetary and cometary atmospheres. Leitmotif is hydrogen: H, H2, H3, H3+. Also prominently mentioned are: National Socialism and World War II.

Transcript, 118 pp.

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SNAC Resource ID: 8288472

Related Entities

There are 5 Entities related to this resource.

Universität Göttingen.

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Yerkes Observatory

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Yerkes Observatory, located in Williams Bay, Wisconsin, is a facility of the University of Chicago's Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics. The observatory opened in 1897 as the joint creation of three founders: William Rainey Harper, the first president of the University of Chicago; Professor George E. Hale, the observatory's first director; and Charles T. Yerkes, a wealthy Chicago businessman who provided funds for the erection of the observatory building. Known as the home of the last of t...

University of Bristol

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The University of Bristol started life as University College, Bristol, in 1876, following a meeting held in the Victoria Rooms to found a centre for higher learning in the city of Bristol. As a subsidiary to the College, the Day Training College for the training of schoolteachers was founded at 21 Berkeley Square under Marian Pease in 1892. In 1893 the Bristol Medical School (founded 1833) was incorporated into the College as its Medical Faculty. Though University College had allowe...

Herzberg, Gerhard, 1904-1999

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Born in Hamburg, Germany on 25 December 1904. Died on 3 March 1999. Education: Dr. Ing., Darmstadt Technische Universität (1928). Employment: 1930-1935 Darmstadt Technische Universität ; 1935-1945 University of Saskatchewan ; 195-1948 University of Chicago ; 1948- National Research Council of Canada. From the description of Oral history interview with Gerhard Herzberg 1986 May 5 (Chemical Heritage Foundation). WorldCat record id: 78596467 Born in Hamburg, Germany, Gerhard ...

National Research Council Canada

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Mr. Donald Phillipson of the National Research Council of Canada undertook an oral history program in 1975, interviewing former scientists of the National Research Council. Abridged copies were given to the University of Alberta Archives. From the description of Oral histories of A.G. McCalla and Robert Newton 1975. (University of Alberta). WorldCat record id: 70329166 ...