
George C. Pimentel
Wolf Prize Laureate in Chemistry 1982

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 : George C. Pimentel and John C. Polanyi
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 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.
