Herbert Kroemer
German–American physicist (1928–2024)
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Herbert Kroemer (German: [ˈhɛʁbɛʁt ˈkʁøːmɐ] ⓘ; August 25, 1928 – March 8, 2024) was a German–American physicist who, along with Zhores Alferov, received the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics "for developing semiconductor heterostructures used in high-speed- and opto-electronics."[2] His research into transistors was a stepping stone to the later development of mobile phone technologies.
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- Germany
- United States (nat. 2003)
(grad. 1951, 1952)
Herbert Kroemer | |
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Kroemer in 2008 | |
| Born | August 25, 1928 Weimar, Germany |
| Died | March 8, 2024 (aged 95) |
| Citizenship |
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| Education | University of Göttingen (grad. 1951, 1952) |
| Known for | |
| Awards |
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Physics |
| Institutions | |
| Thesis | Zur Theorie des Germaniumgleichrichters und des Transistors : Ausz. Mit 10 Fig. im Text (1953) |
| Richard Becker[1] | |
Education
Herbert Kroemer was born on August 25, 1928, in Weimar, State of Thuringia. His father was a civil servant, while his mother was a housewife; neither of them had a high school education. Kroemer excelled in physics at school, letting him advance faster than his peers in the subject.[3]
Kroemer received his Diplom in 1951, and his Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics the following year, both from the University of Göttingen.[1] His doctoral thesis was on hot electron effects in the then-new transistor.[4]
Career and research
From 1952 to 1968, Kroemer worked in a number of research laboratories in Germany and the United States. In 1968, he was appointed Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder.[1] He joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in 1976, focusing its semiconductor research program on the emerging compound semiconductor technology rather than on mainstream silicon technology.[5]
Kroemer always preferred to work on problems that are ahead of mainstream technology, inventing the drift transistor in the 1950s and being the first to point out that advantages could be gained in various semiconductor devices by incorporating heterojunctions. Most notably, though, in 1963 he proposed the concept of the double-heterostructure laser, which is now a central concept in the field of semiconductor lasers. Kroemer became an early pioneer in molecular beam epitaxy, concentrating on applying the technology to untried new materials.
Charles Kittel had published the successful Thermal Physics in 1969, and enlisted Kroemer to edit it for a second edition, which appeared in 1980. Kroemer is also the author of the textbook Quantum Mechanics for Engineering, Materials Science and Applied Physics.[6]
Kroemer retired from UC Santa Barbara in 2012.[7]
Personal life
Kroemer was an atheist.[8] He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2003.[9] He died on March 8, 2024, in Santa Barbara, California, at the age of 95.[10][11][12][13]
Recognition
Memberships
| Year | Organization | Type | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 |  IEEE |
Life Fellow | [14] |
| 1997 | National Academy of Engineering |
Emeritus | [15] |
| 2003 | National Academy of Sciences |
Emeritus | [16] |
Awards
| Year | Organization | Award | Citation | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | IEEE |
J. J. Ebers Award | "For outstanding technical contribution to electron devices." | [17] |
| 1986 | IEEE |
IEEE Jack A. Morton Award | "For pioneering the theory and device applications of semiconductor heterostructures." | [18] |
| 2000 |  Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences |
Nobel Prize in Physics[a] | "For developing semiconductor heterostructures used in high-speed- and opto-electronics." | [2] |
| 2002 | IEEE |
IEEE Medal of Honor | "For contributions to high-frequency transistors and hot-electron devices, especially heterostructure devices from heterostructure bipolar transistors to lasers, and their molecular beam epitaxy technology." | [19] |
See also
Notes
- Shared with Zhores Alferov and Jack Kilby.
