Fonds consists of material related to Herzberg's scientific career in Germany including the loss of his position at the Darmstadt Institute of Technology in 1935, his immigration to Canada and his teaching at the University of Saskatchewan, 1928-1940. Correspondence relating to Herzberg's spectrographic research at the National Research Council in Ottawa, 1950-1997. Also included are minutes and reports of national and international scientific organizations, reviews of manuscripts and material relating to his Nobel Prize in Chemistry (1971). Herzberg's family papers, personal and general correspondence 1924-2004, university notebooks, a diary, material relating to his career at the National Research Council, his 1971 Nobel Prize and surrounding publicity. Publishing contracts and royality payments 1929-1997 and general business correspondence. Historical material about Germany, Herzberg and his scientific contribution.
Herzberg, Gerhard, 1904-1999 : Gerhard Herzberg, physicist, born in Hamburg, Germany, studied physics at the Darmstadt Institute of Technology, where he also taught after receiving his doctorate in 1928. Relieved of his position in 1935 by the National Socialists, he immigrated to Canada, where he taught at the University of Saskatchewan until 1945. After three years at the University of Chicago, he returned to Canada as head of the Division of Physics at the National Research Council in 1949. He remained Director until he became a Distinguished Research Scientist at NRC in 1969. Dr. Herzberg officially retired from NRC in 1994. Herzberg's research was focussed on the spectra of atoms and molecules. His first book "Atomic Spectra and Atomic Structure" was published in 1936. His three volume "Molecular Spectra and Molecular Structure" (1939-1966) became a basic textbook for those working in physics and chemistry. He published "The Spectra and Structures of Simple Free Radicals" in 1971. His last book, with K.P. Huber, was "Constants of Diatomic Molecules" (1979). Besides these books, Herzberg also published over 200 research papers. In 1971 Herzberg received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his contributions to the field of molecular spectroscopy. Dr. Herzberg was Vice-president of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics, 1957-1963. He was President of the Royal Society of Canada 1966-1967 and Chancellor of Carleton University in Ottawa, 1973-1980. During his long career Herzberg received many awards, degrees and medals. Gerhard Herzberg died on 3 March 1999. A biography 'Gerhard Herzberg: An Illustrious Life in Science' by Boris Stoicheff was published in 2002.
