chemistry

Zdeněk Herman

Zdeněk Herman is a chemistry topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Zdeněk Herman rather than just read about it. In short: Zdeněk Herman (24 March 1934 – 25 February 2021) was a Czech physical chemist. Life and work Herman was born on 24 March 1934 in Libušín.

Key takeaways

Zdeněk Herman belongs to chemistry; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Zdeněk Herman to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Zdeněk Herman from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Zdeněk Herman (24 March 1934 – 25 February 2021) was a Czech physical chemist.

Life and work Herman was born on 24 March 1934 in Libušín. He studied physical chemistry and radiochemistry at the School of Mathematics and Physics of Charles University, Prague (1952–1957). He then joined the Institute of Physical Chemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences, to which he remained affiliated. Herman's early work, with Vladimír Čermák concerned mass spectrometric studies of the kinetics of collision and ionization processes of ions (chemical reaction of ions, Penning and associative ionization). During his post-doctoral years (1964–1965), with Richard Wolfgang at Yale University, Herman built one of the first crossed beam machines to study ion-molecule processes. Herman also built an improved crossed beam machine that was used in Prague with colleagues to investigate the dynamics of ion-molecule and charge transfer reactions of cations and dications, and ion-surface collisions by the scattering method (1970–2010). Herman has published over 240 scientific articles in this field.

Awards Herman's academic awards include the Ian Marcus Marci Medal (Czech Spectroscopic Society, 1989), the Alexander von Humboldt Research Prize (awarded in Germany in 1992, the first time the prize was awarded to a Czech natural scientist), the Česká hlava ("Czech Head") National Prize for lifetime achievements (2003), an Honorary Degree from the Leopold-Franzens University in Innsbruck (2007), and honorary membership of the Czech Mass Spectrometric Society. Special honorary issues of The Journal of Physical Chemistry (1995) and The International Journal of Mass Spectrometry (2009) were issued to celebrate his 60th and 75th birthdays respectively. Since 2014 the Resonance Foundation awards "The Zdeněk Herman Prize" for the best PhD thesis in chemical physics and mass spectrometry. Since 2016 the international conference MOLEC (Dynamics of Molecular Systems) awards the "Zdeněk Herman Young Scientist Prize". In his free time, Herman painted and sculpted, and has exhibited his work on several occasions. Busts by Herman of founders of several institutes of the Academy of Sciences are on display at those institutes. Three statues sculpted by Herman stand in the countryside around Rakovník (e.g., in the park in Pavlíkov).

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Zdeněk Herman

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Zdeněk Herman claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In chemistry, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Zdeněk Herman before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Zdeněk Herman ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Zdeněk Herman

In research: Zdeněk Herman appears in chemistry research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Zdeněk Herman in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Zdeněk Herman is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1934 births, 2021 deaths, Charles University alumni, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Zdeněk Herman outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Zdeněk Herman in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Zdeněk Herman means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Zdeněk Herman out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Zdeněk Herman in simple terms?

Zdeněk Herman (24 March 1934 – 25 February 2021) was a Czech physical chemist. Life and work Herman was born on 24 March 1934 in Libušín.

Why does Zdeněk Herman matter?

Because it connects several chemistry ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Zdeněk Herman?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Zdeněk Herman.