Herbert Kroemer was a Nobel Prize-winning physicist whose work on laser technology changed the way semiconductors are designed.
- Died: March 8, 2024 (Who else died on March 8?)
- Details of death: Died at the age of 95.
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Herbert Kroemer’s legacy
Born in Weimar, Germany, Kroemer earned his doctorate in theoretical physics from the University of Göttingen in 1952. He came to the United States and taught electrical engineering at the University of Colorado before moving to the University of California, Santa Barbara, remaining there for the rest of his life. At UCSB, he was professor emeritus and was the Donald W. Whittier Chair of Electrical Engineering in the university’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Kroemer pushed UCSB to expand its semiconductor research program, and in doing so helped make the school one of the world’s leading institutions in the field. In 1997, he was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering, followed by entry into the National Academy of Sciences in 2003. More crucially, in 2000, his work with Zhores Alferov earned him the Nobel Prize in Physics “for developing semiconductor heterostructures used in high-speed- and opto-electronics.” Those developments changed how semiconductors were made and helped lead to the widespread proliferation of modern technology, including smart phones and mobile devices.
Kroemer won the J J Ebers Award, the Humboldt Research Award, the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement, and the IEEE Medal of Honor, among many other honors. He authored or coauthored several textbooks, including “Thermal Physics” with Charles Kittel and “Quantum Mechanics for Engineering, Materials Science and Applied Physics.”
Notable quote
“From the beginning, I’ve always been interested in things that were several generations ahead of what people could do. Small steps didn’t really interest me. I was interested in big steps.”—As quoted by Henry T. Yang, Chancellor at the University of California, Santa Barbara
Tributes to Herbert Kroemer
Full obituary: The Washington Post
