Curt Wittig

Curt Wittig
Nationality	American
Scientific career
Fields	Chemistry
Institutions	USC

Born and raised in Chicago, IL, Curt Franklin Wittig holds the Paul A. Miller Chair in Letters, Arts and Sciences, and is professor of chemistry and biochemistry, at the University of Southern California (USC) College of Letters Arts & Sciences. He received his B.S. and Ph.D in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois in 1970.

Post-doctoral work (EE at USC, Chemistry at Cambridge (UK) and UC Berkeley) was followed by a faculty appointment in 1973 at USC in the EE Department. After becoming a professor in 1979, his interests changed and he moved to the Chemistry and Physics Departments in 1981, settling eventually in the Chemistry Department, where he has specialized in Physical Chemistry (Chemical Physics) ever since.

Dr. Wittig and his wife, Michele, live in Santa Monica, California. He likes to travel and have enjoyed sabbaticals in Boston, Cambridge (MA), Oxford, London, Jerusalem, and New York.

Research Focus

His research uses multiple experimental approaches to problems involving motion within polyatomic molecules, and transitions between uniform and chaotic motion. His group pioneered the study of photoinitiated reactions in weakly-bound clusters in the 80's, and continues in this area. Current topics include the superfluid environment of ultracold (0.37 K) droplets,and metastable excited molecules on surfaces.

Publications

Book Chapters

1. Gas trapping in ice and its release upon warming; A. Bar-Nun, D. Laufer, O. Rebolledo-Mayoral, S. Malyk, H. Reisler, C. Wittig; Solar System Ices, M. Gudipati, editor (World Scientific, Singapore, 2010).
2. Fundamental Aspects of Molecular Photochemistry; C. Wittig; Encyclopedia of Physical Science and Technology, Third Edition, (Academic Press, 2001).
3. Dynamics of ground state bimolecular reactions; C. Wittig and A.H. Zewail; Atomic and Molecular Clusters, E. Bernstein, editor (Oxford Press, 1996).
4. Regioselective photochemistry in weakly bonded complexes; S.K. Shin, Y. Chen, E. Böhmer and C. Wittig; The Dye Laser: 20 Years (Springer-Verlag, 1992) 57-76.
5. State resolved simple bond fission reactions: experiment and theory; H. Reisler and C. Wittig; Advances in Kinetics and Dynamics, Vol. 1, J.R. Barker, editor (JAI Press, Greenwich, 1992) 139-185.
6. Photoinitiated reactions in weakly bonded complexes: entrance channel specificity; Y. Chen, G. Hoffmann, S.K. Shin, D. Oh, S. Sharpe, Y.P. Zeng, R.A. Beaudet and C. Wittig; Advances in Molecular Vibrations and Collision Dynamics, Vol. 1, Part B, J.M. Bowman, editor (JAI Press, Greenwich, 1992) 187-229.
7. NO(X²Π) product state distributions in molecule-surface dissociative scattering: n,i-C₃F₇NO from MgO(100); E. Kolodney, P.S. Powers, L. Hodgson, H. Reisler and C. Wittig; Mode Selective Chemistry, J. Jortner et al., editors (Kluwer Academic Publishers, Netherlands, 1991) 443-455.
8. Photoinitiated reactions in weakly bonded complexes; S.K. Shin, Y. Chen, S. Nickolaisen, S.W. Sharpe, R.A. Beaudet and C. Wittig; Advances in Photochemistry, Vol. 16, D. Volman, G. Hammond and D. Neckers, editors (Wiley, 1991) 249-363.
9. Photodissociation processes in NO-containing molecules; H. Reisler, M. Noble and C. Wittig; Molecular Photodisso­cia­tion Dynamics, J. Baggott and M.N.R. Ashfold, editors (Royal Society of Chemistry, 1987) 139-176.
10. Multiphoton ionization of molecules; H. Reisler and C. Wittig; Advances in Chemical Physics LX, K.P. Lawley, editor (1985) 1-30.

Selected Articles

1. C. Wittig, The Landau-Zener formula, J. Phys. Chem. B 109, 8428 (2005).'
2. J. Underwood, D. Chastaing, S. Lee, and C. Wittig, Heavy hydrides: H₂Te ultraviolet photochemistry, J. Chem. Phys. 123, 84312 (2005).'
3. E. Polyakova, D. Stolyarov, and C. Wittig, Multiple photon excitation and ionization of NO in and on helium droplets, J. Chem. Phys. 124, 214308 (2006).'
4. G. Kumi, S. Malyk, S. Hawkins, H. Reisler, and C. Wittig , Amorphous solid water films: Transport and host-guest interactions with CO₂ and N₂O dopants, J. Phys. Chem. A 110, 2097-2105 (2006).'
5. C. Wittig and I. Bezel, Effective Hamiltonian models and unimolecular decomposition, J. Phys. Chem. B 100, 19850-19860 (2006).'
6. S. Malyk, G. Kumi, H. Reisler, and C. Wittig , Trapping and Release of CO₂ guest molecules in amorphous ice, J. Phys. Chem. A 111, 13365-13370 (2008).'
7. C. Wittig , Statistics of indistinguishable particles, J. Phys. Chem. A 113, 7244-7252, Benny Gerber Festschrift (2009).'
8. L. A. Smith-Freeman, W. H. Schroeder, and C. Wittig, AsH₂ ultraviolet photochemistry, J. Phys. Chem. A 113, 2158-2164 (2009).'
9. A. Bar-Nun, D. Laufer, O. Rebolledo-Mayoral, S. Malyk, H. Reisler, C. Wittig, Gas trapping in ice and its release upon warming, Solar System Ices, M. Gudipati, Editor (World Scientific, Singapore, 2010).
11. C. Wittig, Photon and electron spins, J. Phys. Chem. A 113, 15320-15327, Vincenzo Aquilanti Festschrift (2010).'

Awards and Honors

• Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science (2005);
• Eminent Scholar Lecturer, University of Arizona (2005);
• Raubenheimer Outstanding Faculty Award: Teaching, Research and Service (2003);
• Bourke Lecturer (plus Bourke medal), Royal Society of Chemistry: University of Birmingham, University of Edinburgh, and University of Leeds (2000)
• American Physical Society's Herbert P. Broida Prize Recipient (1993)

External Links

• Dr. Wittig's Official Website
• Dr. Wittig's Faculty page at USC Department of Chemistry
• Dr. Wittig's Faculty page at USC