Professor Emeritus Edward W. Schlag, Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany, passed away on August 11, 2020. He was well-known for the development of spectroscopic methods. He worked, for example, on REMPI (Resonance-Enhanced Multi-Photon Ionization) spectroscopy, a method for the spectroscopy of atoms and small molecules, and Zero Kinetic Energy (ZEKE) spectroscopy, a method for high-resolution ion spectroscopy.
Schlag conducted the first experiments to measure lifetimes of excited molecules for the investigation of radiationless processes of selected vibronic (vibrational and electronic) states depending on the energy. This work provided a basis for a theory of radiationless processes. He also performed high-resolution sub-Doppler spectroscopy on molecules. Usually, the Doppler effect limits the resolution in the spectroscopy of atoms and molecules. Sub-Doppler spectroscoopy allowed him to observe very weak rovibronic (rotational, vibrational, and electronic) states and coupling for the first time.
Edward W. Schlag was born on January 12, 1932, in Los Angeles, CA, USA. He studied chemistry at Occidental College, Los Angeles, and received his Ph.D. from the University of Washington, Seattle, USA, in 1958 for work on reaction kinetics. He became Assistant Professor at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA, in 1960, and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1964 and to Full Professor in 1969. From 1971 until his retirement in 2000, he served as Professor of Physical Chemistry at TUM.
Among other honors, Schlag received the Werner Heisenberg Medal from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in 2001, the Gold Honorary J. Heyrovsky Medal from the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic in 1993, and an honorary doctorate from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel, in 1988. He was an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow, a Member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the Academia Europaea, and a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS).
Selected Publications
- Photoionization resonance spectra I. nitric oxide and benzene,
W. B. Peatman, T. B. Borne, E. W. Schlag,
Chem. Phys. Lett. 1969, 3, 492–497.
https://doi.org/10.1016/0009-2614(69)85042-6 - Photoionization resonance studies with a steradiancy analyzer. II. The photoionization of CH3I,
Tomas Baer, W. B. Peatman, E. W. Schlag,
Chem. Phys. Lett. 1969, 4, 243–247.
https://doi.org/10.1016/0009-2614(69)80174-0 - Theory of radiationless transitions for large molecules,
S. Fischer, E. W.Schlag,
Chem. Phys. Lett. 1969, 4, 393–396.
https://doi.org/10.1016/0009-2614(69)80272-1 - Distal Charge Transport in Peptides,
Edward W. Schlag, Sheh-Yi Sheu, Dah-Yen Yang, Heinrich L. Selzle, Sheng Hsien Lin,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2007, 46, 3196–3210.
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.200601623 - Molecular Theory of ZEKE Spectroscopy,
S. D. Chao, H. L. Selzle, H. J. Neusser, E. W. Schlag, L. Yao, S. H. Lin,
Z. Phys. Chem. 2007, 221, 633–646.
https://doi.org/10.1524/zpch.2007.221.5.633 - Molecular Dynamics of Hydrogen Bonds in Protein−D2O: The Solvent Isotope Effect,
S.-Y. Sheu, E. W. Schlag, H. L. Selzle, D.-Y. Yang,
J. Phys. Chem. A 2008, 112, 797–802.
https://doi.org/10.1021/jp0771668 - Ultrafast dynamics in thiophene investigated by femtosecond pump probe photoelectron spectroscopy and theory,
R. Weinkauf, L. Lehr, E. W. Schlag, S. Salzmann, C. M. Marian,
Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2008, 10, 393–404.
https://doi.org/10.1039/b710381f
