18 Facts About Georg-Maria Schwab

Georg-Maria Schwab finished his secondary education at the Friedrich Wilhelm Gymnasium in Berlin, and upon turning 18 was conscripted for WWI and served for a year with the Bavarian Army in Flanders.

Georg-Maria Schwab continued his postgraduate studies there under the supervision of Ernst Hermann Riesenfeld and in 1923 received his doctorate with his thesis "Uber Ozon", which was awarded the rare distinction eximium opus.

Under Bodenstein, Georg-Maria Schwab was initiated and trained in the field of chemical kinetics, in which he contributed much for the rest of his career.

Georg-Maria Schwab was eventually habilitated in 1927 as a Privatdozent in Wurzburg with his habilitation thesis on the thermal decomposition of methane and ammonia.

In 1928, after the invitation of Heinrich Otto Wieland, Georg-Maria Schwab began working in the inorganic laboratory at the University of Munich and was promoted to extraordinary professor in 1933.

Unable to pursue his career, Georg-Maria Schwab emigrated from Nazi Germany to Greece in 1939, He and Elly married in Athens in the same year.

Georg-Maria Schwab was in a difficult situation during the Axis occupation of Greece, when he faced danger from the German occupying forces due to his Jewish background.

Georg-Maria Schwab kept the position and taught the subject for the next 10 years.

Georg-Maria Schwab retired in 1967 with the title of Emeritus Professor of Physical Chemistry, which he held until his death in 1984.

Georg-Maria Schwab was the first to describe the preparation of pure ozone and its solidification, thereby accurately determining many of its physical constants.

The work of young Georg-Maria Schwab conclusively refuted the century-old theory of oxozone, which led to the exceptional grade of his dissertation.

Some problems on which Georg-Maria Schwab worked on his own in this period included the thermal decomposition of methane, chemical reactions taking place during a cold cathode discharge, and the speed of dissolution of gases.

Georg-Maria Schwab collaborated with his future wife Elly on her research about the influence of free radicals on parahydrogen, a work which they completed in Greece.

Georg-Maria Schwab built on his previous work with a series of kinetic studies, which eventually led to his theory on the electronic mechanisms of metal catalysis.

In later years, after returning to Munich as professor of physical chemistry, Georg-Maria Schwab discovered the surface catalytic influence of a metal in contact with a semiconductor catalyst or an insulator in contact with a metal catalyst.

Georg-Maria Schwab was known as a writer of physical chemistry and catalysis textbooks, with important works such as the Physico-chemical Foundations of Chemical Technology or Catalysis from the Standoint of Chemical Kinetics, the English translation of which was a standard textbook on catalysis for decades.

Georg-Maria Schwab was the editor of all 7 volumes of the international Handbook of Catalysis.

Georg-Maria Schwab received honours throughout his lifetime in recognition of his scientific work.