Ivar Giaever facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ivar Giaever
|
|
|---|---|
Giaever in 2005
|
|
| Born | April 5, 1929 Bergen, Vestland, Norway
|
| Died | June 20, 2025 (aged 96) Schenectady, New York, U.S.
|
| Citizenship |
|
| Alma mater | |
| Known for | Discovering tunnelling in superconductors (1960) |
| Spouse(s) |
Inger Skramstad
(m. 1952; died 2023) |
| Children | 4 |
| Awards |
|
| Scientific career | |
| Fields |
|
| Institutions |
|
Ivar Giaever (YAY-ver) was a brilliant Norwegian-American physicist. He was born on April 5, 1929, and passed away on June 20, 2025. He is famous for sharing the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1973. He won this important award with two other scientists, Leo Esaki and Brian Josephson. Their prize was for amazing discoveries about something called "tunneling" in special materials. These materials are known as semiconductors and superconductors.
Ivar Giaever was also a professor at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He even led a company called Applied Biophysics. This showed his interest in how physics can help us understand living things. In 1975, he became a member of the National Academy of Engineering. This was for his work on electron tunneling in superconductors.
Contents
Early Life and Learning
Ivar Giaever grew up in Norway. He studied mechanical engineering at the Norwegian Institute of Technology. He finished his degree in 1952. A few years later, in 1954, he moved to Canada. There, he started working for a big company called General Electric. In 1958, he moved again, this time to the United States. He continued to work for General Electric in New York. While working, he also went back to school. He earned his Ph.D. degree from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1964. He became a citizen of the United States in 1964.
Winning the Nobel Prize
Ivar Giaever's most famous work happened in 1960. He was working at General Electric. Another scientist, Leo Esaki, had discovered something called "electron tunneling" in materials called semiconductors. Ivar Giaever then showed that this "tunneling" also happens in superconductors.
Imagine a tiny, tiny tunnel that electrons can pass through. Giaever showed that electrons could "tunnel" through a very thin layer of material. This layer was surrounded by metal that was either superconducting or in a normal state. His experiments proved that superconductors have an "energy gap." This was a big discovery. It helped confirm a major idea in physics called the BCS theory of superconductivity.
Giaever's work inspired another physicist, Brian Josephson. Josephson then predicted something new called the Josephson effect. Because of these important discoveries, Esaki and Giaever shared half of the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physics. Brian Josephson received the other half of the prize.
Later in his career, Ivar Giaever became very interested in biophysics. This field combines physics with biology. In 1969, he spent time at Clare Hall at the University of Cambridge in England studying biophysics. He continued this research when he returned to the United States.
Other Important Awards
Besides the Nobel Prize, Ivar Giaever received many other honors.
- In 1965, he won the Oliver E. Buckley Prize. This award is given by the American Physical Society.
- He also received the Golden Plate Award in 1966. This was from the American Academy of Achievement.
- In 1975, he was given the Zworykin Award. This award comes from the National Academy of Engineering.
- In 1985, his old university, the Norwegian Institute of Technology, gave him an honorary degree. This means they recognized his great achievements.
He was also a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters.
Personal Life
Ivar Giaever was married to his childhood sweetheart, Inger Skramstad. They were married in 1952. Inger passed away in 2023. They had four children together. Ivar Giaever passed away on June 20, 2025, when he was 96 years old. He was an atheist.
His Book
Ivar Giaever also wrote a book about his life and journey.
- In 2016, he published "I Am The Smartest Man I Know": A Nobel Laureate's Difficult Journey.
See also
In Spanish: Ivar Giaever para niños
