The reason why thise research got the Nobel prize in chemistry 07

[Serenie]

"for his studies of chemical processes on solid surfaces"
i thought nobel prize was rewarded for the research which have some meaning to the chemistry. In this study i found it hard to find some meaning.
what i found one was that some other techniques were developed because of doing this research.
is it right? or is there any other meaning?

 

[DrClaude]

Did you read the Advanced Information on this Nobel prize?

 

[Ygggdrasil]

Surface chemistry is an extremely important branch of science that has developed many useful catalysts for many industrial processes (for example, the production of fertilizer via the Haber-Bosch process, which Ertl has studied quite extensively) and has many applications. One of the most important applications of surface chemistry and heterogeneous catalysis is the invention of the catalytic converter to help reduce harmful emissions from automobiles. Work by Ertl and others studying the behavior of hydrogen on surfaces during heterogeneous catalysis has been important for developing fuel cell technologies and will likely help in other efforts to develop new technologies to get away from fossil fuel use.

For a overview of the many applications of surface chemistry see: http://www.pnas.org/content/108/3/917.full