received his Ph.D. in physical chemistry from
Harvard University in 1972, where studied molecular beam
spectroscopy of free radicals under Professor William
Klemperer. During the last stages of his Ph.D. work, he
became interested in astrochemistry, or the study of
molecules in regions outside of the solar system. After
two postdoctoral positions (one in Harvard, and one at
the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics,
Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado), he joined the
faculty of the College of William and Mary in 1974 as
Assistant Professor of Chemistry. In 1980, he moved to
Duke University where he became Associate Professor of
Physics, rising to Professor of Physics in 1985. He came
to Ohio State in 1991 as
Professor of Physics.
An appointment as
Professor of Astronomy was made a year
later. Professor Herbst was named a
Professor of Chemistry in 2003. A scientific editor of the The
Astrophysical Journal, he is also a member of the
Chemical Physics Program and the Spectroscopy Institute.
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