Gerd Binnig

Gerd Binnig is a German physicist who co-invented the scanning tunneling microscope with Heinrich Rohrer. He shared the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physics with Rohrer and Ernst Ruska.

Heinrich Rohrer: Heinrich Rohrer was a Swiss physicist who co-invented the scanning tunneling microscope with Gerd Binnig. Rohrer and Binnig developed the instrument together at IBM Zurich.
Scanning tunneling microscope: A scanning tunneling microscope maps conductive surfaces by measuring quantum tunneling current from a sharp tip. This is the instrument Binnig co-invented with Rohrer.
Nanotechnology: Nanotechnology concerns the design, study, and use of structures and devices at nanometer scales. Scanning-probe instruments helped make nanoscale observation and manipulation practical.
Transmission electron microscopy: Transmission electron microscopy forms images from electrons transmitted through a thin specimen. It uses transmitted electrons, unlike Binnig’s surface-scanning method based on tunneling current.
Ernst Ruska: Ernst Ruska was a German physicist whose electron-microscope designs helped establish modern electron microscopy. Ruska shared the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physics with Binnig and Rohrer for electron-optical and scanning-tunneling work.
Quantum tunneling: Quantum tunneling is the passage of a particle through an energy barrier it could not cross classically. The microscope’s measurable current arises when electrons tunnel between its tip and sample.
Atomic manipulation: Atomic manipulation is the controlled repositioning of individual atoms using instruments such as scanning probes. Scanning tunneling microscopes can move atoms across suitable surfaces.
Scanning electron microscopy: Scanning electron microscopy images a specimen by detecting signals produced as an electron beam scans its surface. Its beam-and-detector approach differs from the local probe used in Binnig’s instrument.
IBM Research: IBM Research is the research organization of the technology company IBM. Binnig and Rohrer invented the scanning tunneling microscope while working at IBM Zurich.
Piezoelectricity: Piezoelectricity is the generation of electric charge by mechanical stress, and mechanical strain by an electric field. Piezoelectric actuators move the microscope tip with the precision needed to scan a surface.

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NanoscienceRelated: His instruments opened experimental access to surfaces at atomic and nanoscale resolution.