Rate My Professor Gabor Somorjai

Gabor A. Somorjai was a Professor of the Graduate School in the Department of Chemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, and Faculty Senior Scientist in the Materials Sciences Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Born in Budapest, Hungary, on May 4, 1935, he received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Technical University of Budapest in 1956 and a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from UC Berkeley in 1960. Following postdoctoral work at IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center from 1960 to 1964, he joined UC Berkeley as Assistant Professor of Chemistry in 1964, advancing to Professor in 1972. He served as Guggenheim Fellow in 1969, Unilever Professor at the University of Bristol in 1972, and Miller Professor at Berkeley in 1978. In 2002, he was appointed University Professor, the highest distinction in the University of California system, and retired from his faculty position in 2015 while remaining active in research and mentoring.

Somorjai's research centered on physical chemistry, solid state chemistry, surface science, and catalysis, providing atomic-level insights into structure, bonding, and reactivity at solid surfaces to elucidate macroscopic phenomena such as catalysis, adhesion, and lubrication. Pioneering studies since 1965 used clean metal single crystal surfaces and 1-10 nm nanoparticles as model catalysts for reactions like hydrocarbon conversion, revealing nanoparticle size- and shape-dependent selectivity. He developed instrumental techniques including sum frequency generation surface vibrational spectroscopy, high-pressure scanning tunneling microscopy, and ambient-pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy for in-situ analysis under reaction conditions. His investigations extended to solid-liquid biointerfaces and polymer surfaces. Author of over 1,000 scientific papers and influential textbooks—'Principles of Surface Chemistry' (1972), 'Chemistry in Two Dimensions: Surfaces' (1981), 'Adsorbed Monolayers on Solid Surfaces' (1979), and 'Introduction to Surface Chemistry and Catalysis' (1994, second edition 2010)—Somorjai mentored over 130 Ph.D. students and 200 postdoctoral fellows, with approximately 100 now in faculty positions, profoundly shaping the field as the father of modern surface chemistry. His honors include the National Medal of Science (2002), Wolf Prize in Chemistry (1998), Priestley Medal (2008), Enrico Fermi Award (2023), National Academy of Sciences Award in Chemical Sciences (2013), and election to the National Academy of Sciences (1979) and American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1983). Gabor A. Somorjai passed away on July 7, 2025, at the age of 90.