Karl Hess (scientist)
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Karl Hess (born 20 June 1945 in
Trumau Trumau is a town in the district of Baden (district of Austria), Baden in Lower Austria in Austria. Geography The river Triesting runs through the market town of Trumau. The town is situated between the south-west and north-east part of the Vienn ...
,
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
) is the Swanlund Professor Emeritus in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...
(UIUC). He helped to establish the
Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology The Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology is a unit of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign dedicated to interdisciplinary research. A gift from scientist, businessman, and philanthropist Arnold O. Beckman (1900–2004) and ...
at UIUC. Hess is concerned with
solid-state physics Solid-state physics is the study of rigid matter, or solids, through methods such as solid-state chemistry, quantum mechanics, crystallography, electromagnetism, and metallurgy. It is the largest branch of condensed matter physics. Solid-state phy ...
and the fundamentals of
quantum mechanics Quantum mechanics is the fundamental physical Scientific theory, theory that describes the behavior of matter and of light; its unusual characteristics typically occur at and below the scale of atoms. Reprinted, Addison-Wesley, 1989, It is ...
. He is recognized as an expert in
electron transport An electron transport chain (ETC) is a series of protein complexes and other molecules which transfer electrons from electron donors to electron acceptors via redox reactions (both reduction and oxidation occurring simultaneously) and couples this ...
,
semiconductor physics A semiconductor is a material with electrical conductivity between that of a conductor and an insulator. Its conductivity can be modified by adding impurities (" doping") to its crystal structure. When two regions with different doping levels ...
,
supercomputing A supercomputer is a type of computer with a high level of performance as compared to a general-purpose computer. The performance of a supercomputer is commonly measured in floating-point operations per second (FLOPS) instead of million instruc ...
, and
nanostructures A nanostructure is a structure of intermediate size between microscopic and molecular structure A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Ma ...
. A leader in simulating the nature and movement of
electrons The electron (, or in nuclear reactions) is a subatomic particle with a negative one elementary charge, elementary electric charge. It is a fundamental particle that comprises the ordinary matter that makes up the universe, along with up qua ...
with
computer models Computer simulation is the running of a mathematical model on a computer, the model being designed to represent the behaviour of, or the outcome of, a real-world or physical system. The reliability of some mathematical models can be determin ...
, Hess is considered a founder of computational electronics. Hess has been elected to many scientific associations, including both the
National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), along with the National Academ ...
(2001) and the
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...
(2003). He has served on the
National Science Board The National Science Board (NSB) of the United States establishes the policies of the National Science Foundation (NSF) within the framework of applicable national policies set forth by the President of the United States, president and the United ...
(NSB).


Career

Hess studied mathematics and physics at the
University of Vienna The University of Vienna (, ) is a public university, public research university in Vienna, Austria. Founded by Rudolf IV, Duke of Austria, Duke Rudolph IV in 1365, it is the oldest university in the German-speaking world and among the largest ...
in
Vienna, Austria Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
, where he received his Ph.D. in 1970 in applied physics and mathematics. He worked with Karlheinz Seeger on electron transport in semiconductors and subsequently became an assistant. In 1973 Hess went to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) on a
Fulbright scholarship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...
to work with
John Bardeen John Bardeen (; May 23, 1908 – January 30, 1991) was an American solid-state physicist. He is the only person to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics twice: first in 1956 with William Shockley and Walter Houser Brattain for their inventio ...
. With
Chih-Tang Sah Chih-Tang "Tom" Sah (; born in November 1932 in Beijing, China) is a Chinese-American electronics engineer and condensed matter physicist. He is best known for inventing CMOS (complementary MOS) logic with Frank Wanlass at Fairchild Semiconduc ...
(the co-inventor of CMOS technology), Hess worked theoretically on electron transport in transistors, to find a solution of the
Boltzmann transport equation The Boltzmann equation or Boltzmann transport equation (BTE) describes the statistical behaviour of a thermodynamic system not in a state of equilibrium; it was devised by Ludwig Boltzmann in 1872.Encyclopaedia of Physics (2nd Edition), R. G. ...
for transistors. In 1974 Hess returned to the University of Vienna as assistant professor. In 1977 he was offered a position as a visiting associate professor which enabled him to return to UIUC. Hess worked on improving the efficiency of charge-coupled devices. He and Ben G. Streetman developed the concept of "real space transfer" to describe the performance of high-frequency transistors involving hot‐electron
thermionic emission Thermionic emission is the liberation of charged particles from a hot electrode whose thermal energy gives some particles enough kinetic energy to escape the material's surface. The particles, sometimes called ''thermions'' in early literature, a ...
. This work was important to the development of layered semiconductor technology. In 1980 Hess was appointed to a full professorship for electrical engineering and computer science at UIUC. He also undertook secret research at the
United States Naval Research Laboratory The United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is the corporate research laboratory for the United States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. Located in Washington, DC, it was founded in 1923 and conducts basic scientific research, appl ...
from the 1980s onwards. Hess chaired one of two committees established in 1983 to consider the possible formation of a multidisciplinary research facility at the University of Illinois. In the fall of 1987, William T. Greenough and Karl Hess became associate directors of the
Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology The Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology is a unit of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign dedicated to interdisciplinary research. A gift from scientist, businessman, and philanthropist Arnold O. Beckman (1900–2004) and ...
at UIUC. Hess later served as Co-chair of the Molecular and Electronic Nanostructures initiative at the Beckman Institute. Hess became "a leading theoretician in the realm of semiconductor transistors". His models of the behavior of transistors and integrated circuits enabled researchers to understand how they worked at fundamental levels and find ways to improve them. His work on simulation of the behavior of electrons in semiconductors led to the full-band Monte Carlo method of simulation. This approach incorporated both the Boltzmann equation and aspects of quantum mechanics, using supercomputers to model electrons both as particles and as waves. He also developed simulations for the behavior of electrons in
optoelectronics Optoelectronics (or optronics) is the study and application of electronic devices and systems that find, detect and control light, usually considered a sub-field of photonics. In this context, ''light'' often includes invisible forms of radi ...
, modeling quantum well laser diodes, tiny lasers used in bar-code scanners, CD players, and fiber-optic technology. Hess's algorithms were used for design software called MINILASE, enabling engineers to more quickly and accurately predict the effects of design modifications. From the 1990s onwards, Hess focused on nanotechnology and quantum informatics, including quantum transport in mesoscopic systems. Around 1995, a conversation with nanolithographer Joseph W. Lyding suggested to Hess that using deuterium to passivate the surfaces of integrated circuits had the potential to increase the speed or the lifetime of the circuit. Hess and Isik Kizilyalli compared the degradation of CMOS transistor wafers prepared with either deuterium or hydrogen, and found that use of deuterium substantially increased transistor lifetimes. In 1996, Hess was named to the Swanlund Chair of Electrical and Computer and Computer Engineering at the University of Illinois. Hess has written extensively about hidden variables, a theoretical idea in quantum mechanics that has been hotly contested by many scientists since
Albert Einstein Albert Einstein (14 March 187918 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist who is best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum mechanics. His mass–energy equivalence f ...
and
Niels Bohr Niels Henrik David Bohr (, ; ; 7 October 1885 – 18 November 1962) was a Danish theoretical physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and old quantum theory, quantum theory, for which he received the No ...
. Was quantum mechanics complete as a theory, or were not-yet-understood "hidden variables" required to explain phenomena such as " spooky action at a distance"? In the 1960s,
John Stewart Bell John Stewart Bell (28 July 1928 – 1 October 1990) was a physicist from Northern Ireland and the originator of Bell's theorem, an important theorem in quantum mechanics, quantum physics regarding hidden-variable theory, hidden-variable theor ...
predicted that the question of hidden variables could be experimentally tested: the outcome of specific experiments based on the hypothetical Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen (EPR) paradox should differ depending on whether or not hidden variables did or did not exist. Hess and mathematician Walter Philipp controversially claim that
Bell's theorem Bell's theorem is a term encompassing a number of closely related results in physics, all of which determine that quantum mechanics is incompatible with local hidden-variable theories, given some basic assumptions about the nature of measuremen ...
is flawed. They argue that Bell's test can be made to fail by modeling temporal information. With this addition, existing experimental findings can be explained without resorting to hidden variables or "action at a distance". Others have argued that Hess and Philipp's formulation does not depend on new time parameters, but rather on a violation of the assumption of
locality Locality may refer to: * Locality, a historical named location or place in Canada * Locality (association), an association of community regeneration organizations in England * Locality (linguistics) * Locality (settlement) * Suburbs and localitie ...
required by Bell. Hess officially retired from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in May 2004, but remains the Swanlund Professor Emeritus. After his retirement, Hess was nominated to the
National Science Board The National Science Board (NSB) of the United States establishes the policies of the National Science Foundation (NSF) within the framework of applicable national policies set forth by the President of the United States, president and the United ...
(NSB) of the
National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...
(NSF) by President
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
, serving from 2006 to 2008.


Honors

* 2010, Foreign member,
German Academy of Science and Engineering Acatech (styled ''acatech),'' founded in 2002 and established as the German Academy of Science and Engineering () on 1 January 2008, represents the interests of German technical sciences independently, in self-determination and guided by the commo ...
(acatech) * 2006-2008,
National Science Board The National Science Board (NSB) of the United States establishes the policies of the National Science Foundation (NSF) within the framework of applicable national policies set forth by the President of the United States, president and the United ...
(NSB) * 2003, Fellow,
National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...
* 2001, Fellow,
National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. It is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM), along with the National Academ ...
, "For contributions to hot electron transport and the numerical simulation of semiconductor devices." * 1997, Fellow,
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...
* 1996, Swanlund Chair of Electrical and Computer and Computer Engineering * 1995, Sarnoff Award,
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines. The IEEE has a corporate office ...
(IEEE) "For contributions to high field transport and real space transfer effects in semiconductor heterolayer structures." * 1994, Fellow,
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 ...
, "For contributions to nonlinear electronic transport in semiconductors and in quantum well heterostructures." * 1994, Fellow,
American Association for the Advancement of Science The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...
* 1993, J. J. Ebers Award, IEEE, for "Contributions to Electronic Transport in Semiconductors and in Quantum Well Heterostructures at High Energies"


Books published

* * * * * * *


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hess, Karl 1945 births Living people Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellows of the American Physical Society University of Illinois faculty University of Vienna alumni