Christoph Gerber (born 1942) is a Swiss physicist and professor at the

University of Basel The University of Basel (Latin: ''Universitas Basiliensis''; German: ''Universität Basel'') is a public research university in Basel, Switzerland. Founded on 4 April 1460, it is Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's oldest univ ...

. He is the co-inventor of the

atomic force microscope Atomic force microscopy (AFM) or scanning force microscopy (SFM) is a very-high-resolution type of scanning probe microscopy (SPM), with demonstrated resolution on the order of fractions of a nanometer, more than 1000 times better than the diffr ...

(AFM), together with Gerd Binnig and Calvin Quate. He was a founding member and director for scientific communication of the NCCR (National Center of Competence in Research Nanoscale Science). He was formerly a research staff member in nanoscale science at the

IBM Research IBM Research is the research and development division for IBM, an American Multinational corporation, multinational information technology company. IBM Research is headquartered at the Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York ...

Laboratory in Rueschlikon, Switzerland, and has served as a project leader in various programs of the

Swiss National Science Foundation The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF, German: , SNF; French: , FNS; Italian: ) is a science research support organisation mandated by the Swiss Federal Government. The Swiss National Science Foundation was established under private law b ...

. For the past 40 years, his research has been focused on nanoscale science. He is a pioneer in

scanning probe microscopy Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) is a branch of microscopy that forms images of surfaces using a physical probe that scans the specimen. SPM was founded in 1981, with the invention of the scanning tunneling microscope, an instrument for imaging ...

, who made major contributions to the invention of the

scanning tunneling microscope A scanning tunneling microscope (STM) is a type of scanning probe microscope used for imaging surfaces at the atomic level. Its development in 1981 earned its inventors, Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer, then at IBM Zürich, the Nobel Prize in ...

, the AFM, and AFM techniques in high vacuum and at low temperatures. He is also the author of several patents.

Career

Gerber was born in Basel in 1942 and raised there. After obtaining a degree in

mechanical engineering Mechanical engineering is the study of physical machines and mechanism (engineering), mechanisms that may involve force and movement. It is an engineering branch that combines engineering physics and engineering mathematics, mathematics principl ...

, he briefly worked for Contraves (today part of Rheinmetall Air Defence) in

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

. In 1966, he returned to Switzerland to work at

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

Rüschlikon Rüschlikon is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Horgen District, Horgen in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Zürich (canton), Zürich in Switzerland. It is located on the west shore of Lake Zürich. Coat of ar ...

, Switzerland. Here, he worked on a project developing the scanning transmission electron microscope, for which his colleagues

Heinrich Rohrer Heinrich Rohrer (6 June 1933 – 16 May 2013) was a Swiss physicist who shared half of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physics with Gerd Binnig for the design of the scanning tunneling microscope (STM). The other half of the Prize was awarded to Ernst R ...

and Gerd Binnig would later win the

Nobel Prize in Physics The Nobel Prize in Physics () is an annual award given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for those who have made the most outstanding contributions to mankind in the field of physics. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the ...

. In 1986, together with Gerd Binnig and Calvin Quate of Stanford University, Gerber published the article describing the

in ''

Physical Review Letters ''Physical Review Letters'' (''PRL''), established in 1958, is a peer-reviewed, scientific journal that is published 52 times per year by the American Physical Society. The journal is considered one of the most prestigious in the field of physics ...

''.

Awards

His work has been recognized with multiple honorary degrees and various awards and appeared in numerous articles in daily press and TV coverage. 2016 he has been awarded the

Kavli Prize The Kavli Prize was established in 2005 as a joint venture of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters, the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research, and the Kavli Foundation (United States), Kavli Foundation. It honors, supports, and r ...

in Nanoscience together with Gerd Binnig and Calvin Quate for the scanning force Microscope. He became a fellow of the

Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (, DNVA) is a learned society based in Oslo, Norway. Its purpose is to support the advancement of science and scholarship in Norway. History The Royal Frederick University in Christiania was establis ...

. He is a Fellow of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of ...

and a Fellow of the

Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based not-for-profit learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, physics research, research and applied physics, application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide ...

UK.

References

External links

Prof. Ch. Gerber
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gerber, Christoph Academic staff of the University of Basel Living people Swiss physicists Members of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters Kavli Prize laureates in Nanoscience 1942 births