Johannes Georg Bednorz (; born 16 May 1950) is a German
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 cau ...
who, together with
K. Alex Müller, discovered
high-temperature superconductivity
High-temperature superconductors (abbreviated high-c or HTS) are defined as materials that behave as superconductors at temperatures above , the boiling point of liquid nitrogen. The adjective "high temperature" is only in respect to previou ...
in
ceramic
A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...
s, for which they shared the 1987
Nobel Prize in Physics
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...
.
Life and work
Bednorz was born in
Neuenkirchen,
North Rhine-Westphalia
North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
to elementary-school teacher Anton and piano teacher Elisabeth Bednorz, as the youngest of four children. His parents were both from
Silesia
Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...
in Central Europe, but were forced to move westwards in turbulences of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
.
[ including the Nobel Lecture, December 8, 1987 ''Perovskite-Type Oxides – The New Approach to High-Tc Superconductivity'']
As a child, his parents tried to get him interested in classical music, but he was more practically inclined, preferring to work on motorcycles and cars. (Although as a teenager he did eventually learn to play the violin and trumpet.) In high school he developed an interest in the natural sciences, focusing on
chemistry, which he could learn in a hands-on manner through experiments.
In 1968, Bednorz enrolled at the
University of Münster
The University of Münster (german: Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, WWU) is a public research university located in the city of Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany.
With more than 43,000 students and over 120 fields of stud ...
to study chemistry. However, he soon felt lost in the large body of students, and opt to switch to the much less popular subject of
crystallography, a subfield of
mineralogy at the interface of chemistry and physics. In 1972, his teachers Wolfgang Hoffmann and Horst Böhm arranged for him to spend the summer at the
IBM Zurich Research Laboratory
IBM Research is the research and development division for IBM, an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, with operations in over 170 countries. IBM Research is the largest industrial research or ...
as a visiting student. The experience here would shape his further career: not only did he meet his later collaborator
K. Alex Müller, the head of the physics department, but he also experienced the atmosphere of creativity and freedom cultivated at the IBM lab, which he credits as a strong influence on his way of conducting science.
After another visit in 1973, he came to Zurich in 1974 for six months to do the experimental part of his diploma work. Here he grew crystals of SrTiO
3, a ceramic material belonging to the family of
perovskites. Müller, himself interested in perovskites, urged him to continue his research, and after obtaining his master's degree from Münster in 1977 Bednorz started a PhD at the
ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) under supervision of Heini Gränicher and Alex Müller. In 1978, his future wife, Mechthild Wennemer, whom he had met in Münster, followed him to Zürich to start her own PhD.
In 1982, after obtaining his PhD, he joined the IBM lab. There, he joined Müller's ongoing research on
superconductivity. In 1983, Bednorz and Müller began a systematic study of the electrical properties of ceramics formed from
transition metal oxide
An oxide () is a chemical compound that contains at least one oxygen atom and one other element in its chemical formula. "Oxide" itself is the dianion of oxygen, an O2– (molecular) ion. with oxygen in the oxidation state of −2. Most of the E ...
s, and in 1986 they succeeded in inducing superconductivity in a
lanthanum barium copper oxide
Lanthanum barium copper oxide, or LBCO, is an inorganic compound with the formula CuBa0.15La1.85O4. It is a black solid produced by heating an intimate mixture of barium oxide, copper(II) oxide, and lanthanum oxide in the presence of oxygen. ...
(LaBaCuO, also known as LBCO). The oxide's
critical temperature (T
c) was 35 K, a full 12 K higher than the previous record. This discovery stimulated a great deal of additional research in
high-temperature superconductivity
High-temperature superconductors (abbreviated high-c or HTS) are defined as materials that behave as superconductors at temperatures above , the boiling point of liquid nitrogen. The adjective "high temperature" is only in respect to previou ...
on cuprate materials with structures similar to LBCO, soon leading to the discovery of compounds such as
BSCCO
Bismuth strontium calcium copper oxide (BSCCO, pronounced ''bisko''), is a type of cuprate superconductor having the generalized chemical formula Bi2 Sr2 Ca''n''−1 Cu''n'' O2''n''+4+''x'', with ''n'' = 2 being the most commonly stud ...
(T
c 107K) and
YBCO
Yttrium barium copper oxide (YBCO) is a family of crystalline chemical compounds that display high-temperature superconductivity; it includes the first material ever discovered to become superconducting above the boiling point of liquid nitrogen ...
(T
c 92K).
In 1987, Bednorz and Müller were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics "for their important break-through in the discovery of superconductivity in ceramic materials".
The Nobel Prize in Physics 1987
nobelprize.org In the same year Bednorz was appointed an IBM Fellow
An IBM Fellow is an appointed position at IBM made by IBM's CEO. Typically only four to nine (eleven in 2014) IBM Fellows are appointed each year, in May or June. Fellow is the highest honor a scientist, engineer, or programmer at IBM can achiev ...
.
Awards and honors
* Thirteenth Fritz London Memorial Award (1987)
* Dannie Heineman Prize of the Göttingen Academy (1987)
*Robert Wichard Pohl Prize (1987)
*Hewlett-Packard Europhysics Prize (1988)
*Marcel Benoist Prize
The Marcel Benoist Prize, offered by the Marcel Benoist Foundation, is a monetary prize that has been offered annually since 1920 to a scientist of Swiss nationality or residency who has made the most useful scientific discovery. Emphasis is p ...
(1986)
*Nobel Prize for Physics
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...
(1987)
* James C. McGroddy Prize for New Materials (1988)
*Minnie Rosen Award (1988)
*Viktor Mortiz Goldschmidt Prize
* Otto Klung Prize (1987)
* National Academy of Sciences foreign associate (2018)
*Honorable member of the Swiss Physical Society
The Swiss Physical Society (SPS) (German: Schweizerische Physikalische Gesellschaft / SPG, French: Société Suisse de Physique / SSP) is a Swiss professional society promoting physics in Switzerland. It was founded in May 1908. SPS is involved i ...
since 2011
References
External links
Pioneers in Electricity and Magnetism – Johannes Georg Bednorz
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory.
* including the Nobel Lecture, December 8, 1987 ''Perovskite-Type Oxides – The New Approach to High-Tc Superconductivity''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bednorz, Johannes Georg
1950 births
Living people
People from Steinfurt (district)
Experimental physicists
20th-century German physicists
IBM employees
IBM Fellows
ETH Zurich alumni
Nobel laureates in Physics
German Nobel laureates
Grand Crosses with Star and Sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences
21st-century German physicists