The Development of Molecular Surface Science and the Surface Science of Catalysis:  The Berkeley Contribution

Since the early 1960s, surface science has uncovered the atomic and electronic structures of surfaces and the nature of chemical bonding of adsorbed monolayers of atoms and molecules. Surface instrumentation was developed to carry out these studies as well as to monitor surface reactions, stoichiometric and catalytic. Metal, oxide, molecular crystal, and polymer surfaces have been investigated on the molecular scale. Studies in vacuum and at low pressures that used electrons, ions, and atoms as surface probes have been extended in recent years to high pressures and studies of solid−liquid interfaces by using photon scattering techniques and surface probe microscopes. My laboratory in Berkeley has participated in the development of molecular surface science and heterogeneous catalysis during the past 35 years. The following is a personal review of our contributions to the field.