
Herbert S. Gutowsky
Wolf Prize Laureate in Chemistry 1984

Herbert S. Gutowsky
Affiliation at the time of the award:
University of Illinois at Urbana, USA
Award citation:
“for his pioneering work in the development and applications of nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy in chemistry”.
Prize share:
Herbert S. Gutowsky
Harden M. McConnell
John S. Waugh
Magnetic resonance spectroscopy has made a singular contribution to chemistry in theory, structure and dynamics of molecules in liquids and solids. This is reflected in the choice of the recipients of the Wolf Prize in Chemistry for 1984.
Professor Herbert S. Gutowsky was the first to apply the nuclear magnetic resonance method to chemical research. His experimental and theoretical work on the chemical shift effect and its relation to molecular structure has provided the chemist with working tools to study molecular conformation and molecular interactions in solutions. Gutowsky’s pioneering work on the spin-spin coupling effect developed this phenomenon into a “finger print” method for the identification and characterization of organic compounds. He was also the first to observe the effect of dynamic processes on the lineshape of high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance spectra, and exploited it for the studies of hindered rotation in molecules, Simultaneously with others he discovered the effect of the scalar and dipolar interaction with unpaired electrons in solutions of paramagnetic ions.
