The Prize Committee in Chemistry for 1982 has reached the unanimous decision to recommend that the Wolf Prize be awarded to two distinguished chemists for their far-reaching contributions to science for the benefit of mankind.
John C. Polanyi
University of Toronto
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
for his studies of chemical reactions in unprecedented detail through development of the infrared chemiluminescence technique, and for envisaging the principles underlying the chemical laser.
George C. Pimentel
University of California
Berkeley, California, USA
for development of matrix isolation spectroscopy and for the discovery of photodissociation lasers and chemical lasers.
Professor John Charles Polanyi has made outstanding contributions to modern chemical dynamics. In 1959 he developed the field of infrared chemiluminescence. Using this technique he was able to measure, for the first time, the distribution of individual quantum states resulting from an elementary chemical reaction. In the early sixties he predicted the infrared chemical laser. He then proceeded to develop the theory of energy disposal and of energy requirements in chemical reactions. In recent years he succeeded in achieving direct spectroscopic detection of transition states. Through these contributions he has been a prime innovator in shaping the field of chemical dynamics, as we now know it.
Professor George Claude Pimentel has made pioneering contributions to molecular spectroscopy and laser chemistry. In 1954 he developed the matrix isolation technique by which spectra of free radicals and unstable molecules at very low temperatures can be detected. In 1964-1965 Pimentel created the first photodissociation and chemical lasers. These are amongst the most efficient and powerful lasers known. The chemical laser was subsequently developed by Pimentel and collaborators as a most sensitive tool for the microscopic elucidation of chemical reaction processes. Both chemical lasers and the iodine photodissociation laser figure importantly in current efforts to achieve power generation by laser induced nuclear fusion reactions.