Günter Hans Sauerbrey (January 1, 1933 – May 15, 2003) was 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 invented the
quartz crystal microbalance
A quartz crystal microbalance (QCM), also known as quartz microbalance (QMB) and sometimes also as quartz crystal nanobalance (QCN), measures a mass variation per unit area by measuring the change in frequency of a quartz crystal resonator. The res ...
(QCM).
Biography
Günter Sauerbrey obtained his
Ph.D from
Technische Universität Berlin
(TU Berlin; also known as Berlin Institute of Technology and Technical University of Berlin, although officially the name should not be translated) is a public university, public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was the first ...
. He was responsible of the Laboratory of Medical Techniques and Dosimetry of the
Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt
The Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) is the national metrology institute of the Federal Republic of Germany, with scientific and technical service tasks. It is a higher federal authority and a public-law institution directly under fed ...
(PTB) in
Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...
for 24 years (from 1974 to 1998).
Research contributions
Günter Sauerbrey invented the
quartz crystal microbalance
A quartz crystal microbalance (QCM), also known as quartz microbalance (QMB) and sometimes also as quartz crystal nanobalance (QCN), measures a mass variation per unit area by measuring the change in frequency of a quartz crystal resonator. The res ...
. He developed the research related to QCM in his doctoral thesis at
Technische Universität Berlin
(TU Berlin; also known as Berlin Institute of Technology and Technical University of Berlin, although officially the name should not be translated) is a public university, public research university located in Berlin, Germany. It was the first ...
and published it in two seminals papers in 1957
and 1959.
He was the first to use a harmonic acceleration field to measure mass, although he was not aware about this in the moment of publication.
Together with the quartz crystal microbalance, he developed the
Sauerbrey equation to explain the working principle of the device. Later, other authors developed derivative equations for different cases.
See also
*
Sauerbrey constant
*
Sauerbrey layer
*
Sauerbrey mass
*
Sauerbrey thickness
References
Further reading
* https://www.dpg-physik.de/vereinigungen/fachlich/ohne-sektion/fvgp/pdf/gp-xii.pdf
* https://www.ptb.de/cms/en/presseaktuelles/journalisten/news-press-releases/archives-of-press-releases/archive-of-press-release.html?tx_news_pi1%5Bnews%5D=1328&tx_news_pi1%5Bcontroller%5D=News&tx_news_pi1%5Baction%5D=detail&tx_news_pi1%5Bday%5D=17&tx_news_pi1%5Bmonth%5D=2&tx_news_pi1%5Byear%5D=1998&cHash=43d4ed12c97e6bdba0bd4893e8fae703
* https://www.zeit.de/1983/50/der-weg-in-die-daddelhalle/seite-3
* https://books.google.com/books?id=kwxWDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA291&lpg=PA291
* https://www.uni-frankfurt.de/72296959/20180605_sensors.pdf
* https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/action/doSearch?ContribAuthorStored=Sauerbrey%2C+G%C3%BCnter
External links
*
* http://www.qcmlab.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sauerbrey, Gunter
1933 births
2003 deaths
20th-century German physicists
Technische Universität Berlin alumni