Gerhard Ertl Wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry for Surface Science Research!

Editorial by Charlie Campbell
Editor-in-Chief of Surface Science

On Oct. 10, I awoke as usual, by listening to our National Public Radio.  The news that morning was, however, anything but usual.  It was announced that Gerhard Ertl had won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "his studies of chemical processes on solid surfaces".  How very, very exciting!!  Besides being my postdoctoral advisor, mentor and friend for nearly thirty years, Ertl also represents the best of what we all strive for in our research.  This Nobel Prize recognizes not only the exceptional quality of that research, but also the importance of our whole field within the grand scheme of science and technology.

Ertl has contributed tremendously to Surface Science over the years.  He published over 160 papers in this journal's pages, which have received a total of over 11,000 citations.  Those papers presented some of his Nobel-Prize-winning research, with five cited specifically by the Nobel Foundation. Counting only his papers from this journal, he has a citation h-index of 64.  These papers also have very long citation lives (I note in passing that Surface Science papers generally have long-lasting impact, as reflected in its unusually long, journal-averaged Cited Half-Life®). Ertl also served as Regional Editor for this journal for many years.  He has trained numerous doctoral students and postdoctoral associates, many of whom now lead research groups of their own that have contributed countless papers to this journal.  One of his former students and a long-time coworker, Dr. Klaus Wandelt, now serves as one of the three Regional Editors for this journal.

On behalf of all the editors and staff of this journal, its authors, referees and readers, we congratulate Gerhard Ertl for this well-deserved Nobel Prize, and thank him for his many contributions to our field and to this journal.  Bravo!!  Bravo!!  Bravo!!

Seattle, October 2007