Gerd Karl Binnig
Binnig, Gerd Karl (1947-), a German physicist, codeveloped the scanning tunneling microscope (STM), an instrument that provides a view of the nanoworld. The STM creates an atomic map of inorganic materials that conduct electricity, such as semiconductors and metals. It uses a probe to record individual atoms and the spaces between them. It has proven valuable to research work in engineering, physics, and chemistry.
Binnig invented the STM along with Swiss scientist and fellow co-worker at International Business Machines (IBM), Heinrich Rohrer. For their discovery, the two scientists won half the 1986 Nobel Prize in physics. The other half was awarded to German Ernst Ruska, inventor of the first electron microscope.
Binnig attended Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt, earning his bachelor's degree in 1973 and his doctorate in 1978. He then joined a research physics group at IBM's Zürich Research Laboratory, where he still works today. He was a visiting professor at Stanford University from 1987 to 1988. In 1987, he was named an IBM Fellow. Three years later, he became a member of the supervisory board of the Daimler Benz Holding Company, Binnig is currently working on developing a “millipede” storage system, which can record large amounts of data in an area the size of a square inch.