Gerhard Herzberg. Historical portrait of the German-Canadian spectroscopist Gerhard Herzberg (1904-1999). Herzberg was born and educated in Germany, emigrating to Canada in 1935. He worked on spectroscopic methods in astrophysics, physical chemistry and molecular physics. He produced extremely precise determinations of the energy levels of atomic and molecular hydrogen and their isotopes, as well as several common organic radicals. He also published the classic survey Molecular Spectra and Molecular Structure (from 1939-79). Herzberg received the 1971 Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work on the electronic structure and geometry of molecules and radicals.