Editing Dudley R. Herschbach (section)

==Research==

In 1959, Herschbach joined the [[University of California at Berkeley]], where he was appointed an assistant professor of chemistry and became an associate professor in 1961.<ref name="NobelBio" /> At Berkeley, he and graduate students George Kwei and James Norris constructed a cross-beam instrument large enough for reactive scattering experiments involve [[alkali]] and various molecular partners. His interest in studying elementary chemical processes in molecular-beam reactive collisions challenged an often-accepted belief that "collisions do not occur in crossed molecular beams". The results of his studies of K + CH<sub>3</sub>I were the first to provide a detailed view of an elementary collision, demonstrating a direct rebound process in which the KI product recoiled from an incoming K atom beam. Subsequent studies of K + Br<sub>2</sub> resulted in the discovery that the hot-wire surface ionization detector they were using was potentially contaminated by previous use, and had to be pre-treated to obtain reliable results. Changes to the instrumentation yielded reliable results, including the observation that the K + Br<sub>2</sub> reaction involved a stripping reaction, in which the KBr product scattered forward from the incident K atom beam. As the research continued, it became possible to correlate the electronic structure of reactants and products with the reaction dynamics.<ref name=James/>

In 1963, Herschbach returned to Harvard University as a professor of chemistry. There he continued his work on molecular-beam reactive dynamics, working with graduate students Sanford Safron and Walter Miller on the reactions of alkali atoms with alkali [[halide]]s. In 1967, Yuan T. Lee joined the lab as a postdoctoral student, and Herschbach, Lee, and graduate students Doug MacDonald and Pierre LeBreton began to construct a "supermachine" for studying collisions such as Cl + Br<sub>2</sub> and hydrogen and halogen reactions.<ref name=James/>

His most acclaimed work, for which he won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1986 with [[Yuan T. Lee]] and [[John C. Polanyi]], was his collaboration with Yuan T. Lee on crossed molecular beam experiments. Crossing collimated beams of gas-phase reactants allows partitioning of energy among translational, rotational, and vibrational modes of the product molecules—a vital aspect of understanding reaction [[Dynamics (physics)|dynamics]]. For their contributions to reaction dynamics, Herschbach and Lee are considered to have helped create a new field of research in chemistry.<ref name=NobelPress>{{cite web|title=Press Release: The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1986 Dudley R. Herschbach, Yuan T. Lee, John C. Polanyi|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1986/press.html|website=Nobelprize.org|publisher=Nobel Media|access-date=April 28, 2015}}</ref> Herschbach is a pioneer in molecular stereodynamics, measuring and theoretically interpreting the role of angular momentum and its vector properties in chemical reaction dynamics.<ref name=James/><ref name=DOE>{{cite web|title=Dudley Herschbach: Chemical Reactions and Molecular Beams|url=http://www.osti.gov/accomplishments/herschbach.html|website=DOE R&D Accomplishments|publisher=United States Department of Energy|access-date=April 28, 2015}}</ref>

In the course of his life's work in research, Herschbach has published over 400 scientific papers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=author:%22dr+herschbach%22+or+author:%22d+herschbach%22&hl=en&btnG=Search&as_sdt=40000001&as_sdtp=on |title=Google Scholar search |access-date=December 9, 2010}}</ref> Herschbach has applied his broad expertise in both the theory and practice of [[chemistry]] and [[physics]] to diverse problems in [[chemical physics]], including theoretical work on dimensional scaling. One of his studies demonstrated that [[methane]] is, in fact, spontaneously formed at high-pressure and high-temperature environments such as those deep in the Earth's [[Mantle (geology)|mantle]]; this finding is an exciting indication of [[Biogenic substance|abiogenic]] [[hydrocarbon]] formation, meaning that the actual amount of hydrocarbons available on Earth might be much larger than conventionally assumed under the assumption that all hydrocarbons are [[fossil fuels]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=Generation of methane in the Earth's mantle: In situ high pressure–temperature measurements of carbonate reduction |doi=10.1073/pnas.0405930101 |pmid=15381767 |volume=101 |issue=39 |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |pages=14023–14026|bibcode=2004PNAS..10114023S |pmc=521091 |year=2004 |last1=Scott |first1=H. P. |last2=Hemley |first2=R. J. |last3=Mao |first3=H.-k. |last4=Herschbach |first4=D. R. |last5=Fried |first5=L. E. |last6=Howard |first6=W. M. |last7=Bastea |first7=S. |doi-access=free }}</ref> His recent work also includes a collaboration with [[Steven Brams]] studying [[approval voting]].<ref name="voting">{{cite journal|first1= Steven J. |last1=Brams |last2=Herschbach<!--|first2= Dudley R. -->|first2=DR|title=The Science of Elections|doi=10.1126/science.292.5521.1449| journal=Science|volume=292|issue=5521|page=1449|year=2001|pmid=11379606|s2cid=28262658}}</ref>