Christe, a chemist with the University of Southern California and Edwards Air Force Base's Research Laboratory, studies "anything that raises my curiosity," he said, but his main focus recently is energetic materials, primarily for propulsion.
Of particular interest is nitrogen, which makes up about 80 percent of Earth's atmosphere. "A nitrogen propellant, if we can make one, would give off lots of energy with no greenhouse effect and no pollution," he explained. "It could be used in everything from rockets to air-bag inflators."
Ordinary nitrogen exists as pairs of atoms triple-bonded to each other, and a quirk of chemistry gives the element an intriguing property useful for propulsion: Its single and double bonds are unusually weak. That means a form of pure nitrogen with single or double bonds can release large amounts of energy when it decomposes back into its ordinary form.
The trick is creating that new form of nitrogen, and one that is safe to handle until actual use. Christe and his research team have made significant progress, however, inventing one piece of the molecule in 1999, a discovery that garnered international attention. They are now working on other pieces with the aim to stitch them together into a stable, new form.
A native of Germany, Christe qualified for the 1960 Olympics with the West German fencing team but a subsequent injury kept him from competing. He arrived in the United States "adventurous and broke," he said, in 1962 -- shortly after earning his Ph.D. from the Technical University in Stuttgart -- and has since competed with the U.S. national fencing team while pursuing his career in the United States. He now teaches fencing and its strategies part-time.
When asked how he first became interested in science, Christe said, "In high school I had a very good chemistry teacher, and I found that chemistry came very naturally for me. I always liked subjects that required critical thinking, not just memorizing things."
Christe is a member of the ACS divisions of fluorine and inorganic chemistry. The ACS Award in Inorganic Chemistry is sponsored by Aldrich Chemical Co., Inc.