Surface science is the study of physical and chemical phenomena that occur at the interface of two phases,including solid–liquid interfaces,solid–gas interfaces,solid–vacuum interfaces,and liquid–gas interfaces. It includes the fields of surface chemistry and surface physics. Some related practical applications are classed as surface engineering. The science encompasses concepts such as heterogeneous catalysis,semiconductor device fabrication,fuel cells,self-assembled monolayers,and adhesives. Surface science is closely related to interface and colloid science. Interfacial chemistry and physics are common subjects for both. The methods are different. In addition,interface and colloid science studies macroscopic phenomena that occur in heterogeneous systems due to peculiarities of interfaces.
Gabor A. Somorjai is a professor of chemistry at the University of California,Berkeley,and is a leading researcher in the field of surface chemistry and catalysis,especially the catalytic effects of metal surfaces on gas-phase reactions. For his contributions to the field,Somorjai won the Wolf Prize in Chemistry in 1998,the Linus Pauling Award in 2000,the National Medal of Science in 2002,the Priestley Medal in 2008,the 2010 BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Basic Science and the NAS Award in Chemical Sciences in 2013. In April 2015,Somorjai was awarded the American Chemical Society's William H. Nichols Medal.
Mostafa A. El-Sayed is an Egyptian-American physical chemist,a leading nanoscience researcher,a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a US National Medal of Science laureate. He was the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Physical Chemistry during a critical period of growth. He is also known for the spectroscopy rule named after him,the El-Sayed rule.
Giacinto Scoles is a European and North American chemist and physicist who is best known for his pioneering development of molecular beam methods for the study of weak van der Waals forces between atoms,molecules,and surfaces. He developed the cryogenic bolometer as a universal detector of atomic and molecule beams that not only can detect a small flux of molecules,but also responds to the internal energy of the molecules. This is the basis for the optothermal spectroscopy technique which Scoles and others have used to obtain very high signal-to noise and high resolution ro-vibrational spectra.
Richard James Saykally is an American chemist. He is currently the Class of 1932 Endowed Professor of Chemistry at the University of California,Berkeley. He has received numerous awards for his research on the molecular characteristics of water and aqueous solutions.
Martin Gruebele is a German-born American physical chemist and biophysicist who is currently James R. Eiszner Professor of Chemistry,Professor of Physics,Professor of Biophysics and Computational Biology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign,where he is the principal investigator of the Gruebele Group.
Veronica Vaida is a Romanian-American chemist and professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. She is an expert in environmental chemistry and aerosols.
Isao Noda is a chemical engineer whose research has focused on polymer science and spectroscopy. He holds ninety patents granted in the United States and the EU,has published over three hundred articles,co-authored three books,and received a number of industry-wide awards and recognition for his contributions to his fields of research.
Bernard Lucas Feringa is a Dutch synthetic organic chemist,specializing in molecular nanotechnology and homogeneous catalysis. He is the Jacobus van 't Hoff Distinguished Professor of Molecular Sciences,at the Stratingh Institute for Chemistry,University of Groningen,Netherlands,and an Academy Professor of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry,together with Sir J. Fraser Stoddart and Jean-Pierre Sauvage,"for the design and synthesis of molecular machines".
David Lyndon Emsley FRSC is a British chemist specialising in solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance and a professor at EPFL. He was awarded the 2012 Grand Prix Charles-Leopold Mayer of the French Académie des Sciences and the 2015 Bourke Award of the Royal Society of Chemistry.
Heather Cecile Allen is a research chemist,who leads the Allen Group at Ohio State University. Allen's research focuses on interfacial phenomena,particularly those involving water and air. Her work has broad application ranging from medicine to climate change. She also develops nonlinear optical spectroscopy and microscopy instruments for the examination of interfacial surfaces.
Hai-Lung Dai is a Taiwanese-born American physical chemist and university administrator. He currently is the Laura H. Carnell Professor of Chemistry and Vice President for International Affairs at Temple University in Philadelphia,Pennsylvania,in the United States.
Christy Lynn Haynes is a chemist at the University of Minnesota. She works at the interface of analytical,biological,and nanomaterials chemistry.
Maki Kawai is a Japanese chemist who developed spatially selective single-molecule spectroscopy. In 2018,she became the first woman to become president of the Chemical Society of Japan.
Wang Hongfei is a physical chemist and chemical physicist. Since 2017,he is a professor in the department of chemistry of Fudan University in Shanghai,China.
Robin L. Garrell is an American chemist,academic and current president of The Graduate Center,CUNY. Until 2020,Garrell served as vice provost for graduate education and dean of graduate division at University of California,Los Angeles (UCLA). Prior to this role,Garrell was assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh from 1984 to 1991,then joined the faculty in the department of chemistry and biochemistry at UCLA,where she became full professor and held a joint appointment in bioengineering. Garrell assumed her current position at The Graduate Center on August 1,2020.
Sylvie Roke is a Dutch chemist and physicist specialized in photonics and aqueous systems. As a full professor she holds Julia Jacobi Chair of Photomedicine at EPFL and is the director of the Laboratory for fundamental BioPhotonics.
Mitsuo Tasumi was a Japanese physical chemist known for his vibrational spectroscopic works on synthetic and biological macromolecules. He was Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo,and a former president of Saitama University,having trained a number of physical chemists active in academia and industry. Moto-o Tasumi,a zoologist at Kyoto University,was his brother.
Anne Bowen McCoy is a theoretical chemist. She is the Natt-Lingafelter Professor of Chemistry at the University of Washington,and her research interests include vibrational spectroscopy,hydrogen bonding,and charge-transfer bands. She received the 2023 Jack Simons Award in Theoretical Chemistry “for her development and application of theoretical methods for analyzing the vibrational spectra &dynamics of floppy molecules and clusters.”
Munira Khalil is an American chemist who is the Leon C. Johnson Professor of Chemistry and department chair at the University of Washington.
