Heinrich Rohrer

Biography

Heinrich Rohrer (6 June 1933 – 16 May 2013) was a Swiss physicist who significantly changed surface science with his pioneering work in microscopy. Born in Buchs, Switzerland, Rohrer studied at ETH Zurich, where he laid the groundwork for his future scientific achievements. His career was marked by his collaboration with Gerd Binnig at IBM Research Laboratory in Zurich, where they invented the scanning tunneling microscope (STM) in the early 1980s.

The scanning tunneling microscope was a groundbreaking tool, allowing researchers to see and manipulate individual atoms for the first time. This breakthrough relied on quantum tunneling to create images of surfaces at the atomic level, providing unmatched resolution beyond traditional electron microscopes. The STM's development opened new areas of research in nanotechnology and materials science, letting scientists study matter at scales once thought impossible to observe directly.

Rohrer's work earned him international acclaim, leading to the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physics, which he shared with Binnig for their work on the STM. Ernst Ruska received the other half of that year's prize for his earlier work in electron microscopy. Besides the Nobel, Rohrer received many other honors, including the King Faisal International Prize in Science and the EPS Europhysics Prize in 1984, followed by the Elliott Cresson Medal in 1987.

During his time at IBM, Rohrer stayed dedicated to advancing scientific understanding and promoting international collaboration. He married Rose-Marie Egger and continued his research into his later years. His work inspired countless researchers and established new methods that became standard in materials research, surface physics, and nanotechnology. Rohrer died on 16 May 2013 in Wollerau, Switzerland, leaving behind a scientific legacy that continues to influence modern physics and engineering research.