Heinrich Rohrer facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Heinrich Rohrer
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Heinrich Rohrer in 2008
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| Born | 6 June 1933 Buchs, St. Gallen, Switzerland
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| Died | 16 May 2013 (aged 79) Wollerau, Switzerland
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| Nationality | Swiss |
| Known for | Scanning tunneling microscope Scanning probe microscopy |
| Awards | EPS Europhysics Prize (1984) King Faisal Prize (1984) Nobel Prize in Physics (1986) Elliott Cresson Medal (1987) Fritz London Memorial Lecture (1992) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics |
Heinrich Rohrer (born June 6, 1933 – died May 16, 2013) was a Swiss physicist. He is famous for helping to invent the scanning tunneling microscope (STM).
This amazing invention allowed scientists to see individual atoms for the very first time! For this work, he shared half of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physics with Gerd Binnig. The other half of the prize went to Ernst Ruska for his work on the electron microscope.
After his death, the Heinrich Rohrer Medal was created. It is given out every three years to honor his memory.
About Heinrich Rohrer
Heinrich Rohrer was born in Buchs, St. Gallen, Switzerland. He had a twin sister and enjoyed growing up in the countryside. In 1949, his family moved to Zürich.
In 1951, he started studying at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH). He learned from famous scientists like Wolfgang Pauli. For his PhD, he studied how superconductors change length. These experiments were very sensitive. He often had to work at night when the city was quiet to avoid vibrations.
His studies were paused for a while when he served in the Swiss army. In 1961, he married Rose-Marie Egger. They went to the United States for their honeymoon. While there, he also did some research at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
Working at IBM
In 1963, Heinrich Rohrer joined the IBM Research Laboratory in Rüschlikon, Switzerland. For his first few years at IBM, he studied special magnetic materials. Later, he began looking into how materials behave under different magnetic conditions.
In 1974, he spent a year at the University of California in Santa Barbara, California. There, he studied nuclear magnetic resonance.
His most important work happened before 1982. This was when he worked on developing the scanning tunneling microscope. This invention changed how scientists could study surfaces at an atomic level.
In 1986, he became an IBM Fellow. This is a special title given to top scientists at IBM. From 1986 to 1988, he led the physics department at the research lab. He was also honored by the Swiss Physical Society and Academia Sinica.
His Later Years
Heinrich Rohrer passed away peacefully on May 16, 2013. He was 79 years old and died at his home in Wollerau, Switzerland.
External links
- [[Category:Nobel Prize in {{{1}}} winners]] including the Nobel Lecture, December 8, 1986 Scanning Tunneling Microscopy – From Birth to Adolescence
See also
In Spanish: Heinrich Rohrer para niños
