I was rather amused to find out that he loved history as a kid, and then went on to excel in Chem E. At the time, I had always thought that what you liked as a kid is what you should do as an adult, since those are the stories that you hear all the time, but as I got older, I see more instances where people grow and their interests change.
yeah, not many chemists kicking around here but i assure you, surface science powers the world, your biology and incidentally, all of your chips.
Other than wikipedia, where would one find out more? Is there any definitive intro to the subject?
I'm sure your intention wasn't to spend a hundred on the subject, but Somorjai has an introductory book which I think is worth noting.