Øystein Fischer (born 9 March 1942 in

Bergen Bergen (), historically Bjørgvin, is a city and municipality in Vestland county on the west coast of Norway. , its population is roughly 285,900. Bergen is the second-largest city in Norway. The municipality covers and is on the peninsula of ...

, died 19 September 2013) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...

and specialist in the field of

superconductivity Superconductivity is a set of physical properties observed in certain materials where electrical resistance vanishes and magnetic flux fields are expelled from the material. Any material exhibiting these properties is a superconductor. Unlike ...

. He was a professor of the Faculty of Science of the

University of Geneva The University of Geneva (French: ''Université de Genève'') is a public research university located in Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded in 1559 by John Calvin as a theological seminary. It remained focused on theology until the 17th centu ...

. He was also the founder and director of the Swiss National Center of Competence in Research MaNEP (Materials with Novel Electronic Properties), dedicated to exploring materials of the future.

Career

After having worked as a technical research assistant for the laboratory Nera A/S in Bergen, Norway, Fischer studied physics at the

Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (colloquially) , former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule , image = ETHZ.JPG , image_size = , established = , type = Public , budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021) , rector = Günther Dissertori , president = Joël Mesot , a ...

. He joined the University of Geneva in 1967 and obtained his

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

in 1971. He was appointed assistant professor at the University of Geneva in the same year. In 1977 he became a full professor.

Research

In 1975, he synthesized the first superconducting compounds containing a regular lattice of magnetic ions, a discovery opening up a decade of international research concerning the interaction between magnetism and superconductivity. This work was highlighted by his discovery in 1984 of superconductivity induced via magnetic field. With his team, Fischer launched the first artificial

superlattices A superlattice is a periodic structure of layers of two (or more) materials. Typically, the thickness of one layer is several nanometers. It can also refer to a lower-dimensional structure such as an array of quantum dots or quantum wells. Di ...

of superconductor cuprates, the pioneering work of many developments in new areas of thin films and oxide interfaces. From 1986, Fischer assigned a part of his team to work in

scanning tunneling microscopy A scanning tunneling microscope (STM) is a type of 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 Physics in 1986. ...

which allowed him to probe the fundamental properties of high temperature superconductors. In 2001, he founded and became director of the NCCR (PRN) MaNEP dedicated to the study of materials with novel electronic properties. Fischer initiated the Geneva Creativity Center whose purpose is to stimulate discussion between the academic and industrial sectors and to find innovative solutions for future technological challenges. Fischer was also the head of the project "Centre for astronomical, physical and mathematical sciences of Geneva". Over the past 20 years, Fischer has focused his research on superconductors using

(STM) and

scanning tunneling spectroscopy Scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS), an extension of scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), is used to provide information about the density of electrons in a sample as a function of their energy. In scanning tunneling microscopy, a metal tip is ...

(STS).

Awards and honours

References

External links

* http://www.manep.ch * http://dpmc.unige.ch/gr_fischer/index.html * http://physiscope.ch {{DEFAULTSORT:Fischer, Oystein 1942 births 2013 deaths Scientists from Bergen Norwegian physicists Norwegian expatriates in Switzerland Academic staff of the University of Geneva Semiconductor physicists