Christoph Gerber is a titular professor em. at the Department of Physics, University of Basel, Switzerland. He was a founding member and  Director for Scientific Communication of the NCCR (National Center of Competence in Research Nanoscale Science) and acted more than 15 years as a Vice-Director on the board of the SNI (Swiss Nanoscience institute) at Univ. of Basel. He was formerly a Research Staff Member in Nanoscale Science at the IBM Research Laboratory in Rueschlikon, Switzerland, and has served as a project leader in various programs of the Swiss National Science Foundation and in the European Framework 6.

 

For the past 40 years, his research has been focused on Nanoscale Science. He is a pioneer in Scanning Probe Microscopy, and he made major contributions to the invention of the Scanning Tunneling Microscope and the Atomic Force Microscope (AFM), he is also a co-inventor of Biochemical sensors based on AFM Technology.

He is the author and co-author of more than 180 scientific papers that have appeared in peer-reviewed journals and has been cited more than 36’200 times in ISI Clarivate Web of Science and  69‘100 times in cross disciplinary fields. (https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=w9b8kbgAAAAJ&hl=de). He belonged to the one hundred worldwide most cited researchers in Physical Sciences in 2000. He has given numerous plenary and invited talks at international conferences.

His work has been recognized with multiple honorary degrees and various awards and appeared in numerous articles in daily press and TV coverage. He is co-recipient of the 2016 Kavli Prize in Nanoscience for the Atomic Force Microscope. 2023 he received the World Cultural Council Albert Einstein Award for Science. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, a Fellow of the World Technology Network and a Fellow of the IOP Institute of physics UK. He served on the advisory board of several nano institutes and has chaired and co-chaired various international conferences. His IP portfolio contains 37 patents and patent publications. His private interest range from literature (scientific and a good novel) to art and sports (he is a passionate skier and plays an acceptable round of golf).

His current interests include

-      Biochemical sensors based on AFM Technology

-      Chemical surface identification on the nanometer scale with AFM

-             Nanomechanics, nanorobotics, and molecular devices at the ultimate limits of measurement and fabrication                              

-      Self-organization and self-assembly at the nanometer scale

 

Invitations 

-    Visiting scientist University of Madrid, Spain, April 1983

-    Visiting scientist University of Santa Barbara, CA, USA, October 1985

-    Visiting scientist California Institute of Technology, CA, USA, November 1985

-    Visiting scientist Stanford University, CA, USA, 1985-1986

1. -   Visiting Professor Tohoku University, IMR, Sendai, Japan, 1997-1998 and 2001-2002
   

2. -   University of Bristol’s IAS Benjamin Meaker Visiting Professorship (2014/2015)
   
   

 

Previous jobs

-    Group leader R & D Dept. Contraves Stockholm, Sweden, 1964-1966

-    Research assistant and Research Staff Member IBM Zurich Research Laboratory,
Ruschlikon, Switzerland, 1966-2004

-    Assignment IBM Research Center, Almaden, CA, USA, 1985-1986

-    Assignment IBM Physics Group, University of Munich, Germany, 1987-1989

 

Joint studies on various scientific subjects with

-    University of Bern, Switzerland                    1982-1983

-    University of Madrid, Spain                          1983

-    PSI Villigen, Switzerland                              1996- 2000

-    ETH Zurich, Switzerland                              1996-2000

-    Nanocenter Aarhus Denmark iNano            1998-2004

-    University of Stanford, CA, USA                  1986-2012

-    University of Cambridge  IRC,UK                 2008-2012

-    University College London UK                     2012-2022

-    University Lund  Sweden                             1999-2003

 

Consultancies

-    University of Washington, Seattle, USA  1985

-    University of California, Berkeley, USA   1985

-    University of California Santa Barbara USA 1985

-    University of Marseilles, France 1986

-    Park Scientific, Sunnyvale, CA, USA 1990

-    Atomcraft project Tsukuba, Japan 1994-1996

-    University of Augsburg, Germany 1998

-    ETH Zurich, Switzerland 1996-2000

-    Veeco Digital Instruments, Santa Barbara, CA, USA 2000-2001

-    Concentris Basel, Switzerland, 2001-2013

-   CRANN Nanocenter Trinity college Dublin, Ireland, 2001-2014

-   Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech), Japan, 2006-2019

`

Academic memberships and external activities

 

-    Co-organizer STM Conference Interlaken, Switzerland, August 1991

-    Chairman of Plenary session International Conference on STM Beijing, China, 1993

-    Invited consultant NATO program in Nanoscale Science, 1993-1997

-    Co-director ASI NATO School, Schluchsee, Germany, March 1994

-    Co-director NATO Workshop Cambridge, UK, April 1994

-    Tutor to graduate students on Nanoscale Science, Bern, Switzerland, April 1994

-    Director NATO Workshop Loch Lomond, Scotland, October 1995

-    Co-organizer Japanese-Swiss Science Seminar, Ascona, Switzerland, 1996

-    Co-project leader Swiss Science Foundation (NFP36), 1996-1998

-    Project leader Swiss Priority Program on Micro- and Nanosystems, 1996-1999

-    Chairman International Conference of STM/AFM application, Dresden, Germany, April 1997

-    Chairman Conference of the Directors Nato Workshops and Schools in Nanoscale Science, Toledo, Spain, May 1997

-    Chairman Application SPM, Cambridge, October 1997

-    Co-chairman SXM 3 Conference Technological Application of Scanning Probe Methods, Basel, Switzerland, September 1998

-    Co-chairman Conference Noncontact Dynamic AFM, Pontresina, Switzerland, Sept. 1999

-    Guest Editor Applied Surface Science, April 2000

-       Member of Steering Committee International Center of Quantum Structure,
Chinese Academy of Science, October 2000

-       Chief Judge for Science Talent Search, National Science & Technology Board, State of Singapore, February 2001

-       Member of the Innovation Committee, National Program TOP Nano 21, Switzerland, February 2001

-       Project Leader Molecular Machinery NCCR Swiss National Program for Nanoscience June 2001

-       Member of the Editorial Board, Journal of Nanotechnology, April 2001

-       Member of the Steering Committee, Consortium Intramolecular Computation, April 2001

-       Managing Editor, Journal of Nanoscience, August 2001

-       Member of the Steering committee NCAFM  conference 2003  September Dublin  Irland  December 2002

-       Member of the Editorial Board Central European Science Journal February 2003

-       Member of Scientific committee EMN04 October 2004 Paris France

-       Member of external expert panel faculty position professor in Bio/Nanoscience University of Lund Sweden March 2004

-       Co-Organiser FRONTIERS Workshop "Bio-Nano", Lenzerheide (Switzerland) January 16-19, 2005

-       Advisor  to ATI Advanced Technology Institute Tokyo , Japan  March 2005

-       Member Advisory Board EU framework 6 Nano Safe Brussels August 2005

-       Member Advisory Board  Nanocenter CRANN Trinity college Dublin IR August 2005

-       Member of the editorial board  journal  Nano  Feb. 2006

-    Co-Organiser FRONTIERS Workshop "Understanding processes at the molecular level", Lenzerheide (Switzerland) March 19-23, 2006

1. -   Co organiser ICN&T2006 Basel  Switzerland July 31 August  4  2006
   

-    Guest Editor Nanotechnology, January 2007

-    Co-Organiser FRONTIERS Workshop "Exploring new FRONTIERS in Bio/Nano", Zermatt (Switzerland) March 18-22, 2007

-    Member of Editorial Advisory Board  Journal 'ACS Nano'  (American Chemical Society), August 2007

-    Co-Organiser FRONTIERS Workshop "FRONTIERS Bio-Nano Winter School", Zermatt (Switzerland) March 9-13, 2008

-    Member of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on the Challenges of Nanotechnology, June 2008

1. -   Member of the International Advisory Board for the King Abdullah Institute of Nanotechnology, Riyadh/Saudi Arabia, June 2008
   

2. -  Co-chair CIMTEC 2010, 12th International Ceramic Congress, “Disclosing materials at Nanoscale”, June 6-11, 2010, Montecatini Terme, Tuscany, Italy.
   

3. -  Chair “Seeing at the Nanoscale VIII, Basel, 30.8.-3.9.2010.
   

4. -  Member of the International Scientific Committee of the NanoBio 2010 Conference, Zürich, Switzerland
   

5. -  Advisory Board Member of the Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology, January 2010
   

6. -  Member of the Scientific American Audience Panel, January 2010
   

7. -  Member of the advisory board: Nanometer Structure Consortium at Lund University October 2011
   

8. -   member  of the program committee  Swiss Nanoconvention  Lausanne May 2012
   

9. -    Journal Nanotechnology Discussion podcast to celebrate the 25th volume on Tuesday 29th October 2013
   

10. -    celebration 20th volume journal nanotechnology Dec. 2013 Podcast discussion Profs. Gerber, Giessibl and Gimzewski
      http://iopscience.iop.org/0957-4484/page/Nanotechnology%20Discussions%20podcasts
    

11. -    member scientific committee 2nd Dresden Nanoanalysis Symposium July 2-3, 2014 Dresden
    

12. -    member of Advisory board IRC program Nanoinstitute University College London UCL 2014
    

13. -    member of the IMDEA Nanosciencia Scientific Advisory Board, Madrid (Spain), 2014-19
    

14. -    IAS Benjamin Meaker Visiting Professorship (BMVP) 2014/2015, Bristol
    

 

Inventions

       -    37 patents and patent publications including numerous IBM inventions achievement awards

Awards and Honours

 

-    IBM Research Division Awards: 1975, 1979, 1982, 1990, 1991, 1997 on various subjects

-    IBM Research Division Outstanding Contribution Award for Design Development and Technology Transfer of STM, 1984

-    IBM Outstanding Technical Achievement Award for the Contribution to Commercialization of STM, 1987

-    IBM Outstanding Technical Achievement Award for the invention of the Atomic Force  Microscope, 1987

-    Dr. phil. II h.c., University of Basel, Switzerland, 1987

-    IBM Recognition Event for Outstanding Contribution, 1988

-    Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS), October 1999

-     Honorary Professor of the University of St. Andrews, Scotland, February 2000

-     Honorary Professor Chinese Academy of Science, Institute of Physics, October 2000

1. -    Among the 100 most cited researchers in physical science in the world, November 2000
   

2. -    Titular professor, Department of Physics, University of Basel, Switzerland, since 2004
   

3. -    Co-recipient of the  Economist Innovation award No boundaries September 2004
   

4. -    Fellow Institute of Physics IOP UK  November 2004
   

5. -    World Technology Award for IT Hardware, World Technology Network, November 3, 2006
   

6. -    Fellow of the World Technology Network (WTN), November 2006
   

7. -    Research Excellence Award, Nano / Bio Interface Center, University of Pennsylvania, February 2007
   

8. -   James Waters Award Lecture for the Development of AFM Technology, February 2007
   

9. -    Science Prize of the State of Basel, Switzerland, August 2011
   

10. -    Scientific Excellence Award of the Alliance for NanoHealth Houston Texas, October 2011
    

11. -    Life time achievement award, Nature Publishing Group, Nature Biotechnology, Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Medicine, February 2012
    

12. -   Honorary Professorship University St. Andrews,  Scotland,  September 2013-August 2016
    

13. -    Who is Who in Switzerland the one hundred most important people 2013
    

14. -    Elected by the “Who is Who in Basel” Committee for 2014
    http://www.ww-magazin.ch/ww-basel/komitee-basel.php
    

15. -    International Society for Nanoscale Science, Computation, and Engineering (ISNSCE) Nanoscience Prize 2016, Snowbird (USA), May 2016
    

16. -    2016 he has been awarded the Kavli Prize in Nanoscience together with Gerd Binnig and Calvin Quate for the Atomic Force Microscope.
    

17. -    November 2016: Honorary Doctor Degree from Univ. Twente, The Netherlands.
    

18. -    Since Dec 2016 Member of the Norwegian Academy of Science as Laureate of the Kavli Prize
    

19. -    Elected by the “Who is Who in Basel” Committee for 2017
    

20. -    Honorary Member of the Swiss Nanoscience Institute, September 2017
    

21. -    Recognition in July 2023: For bringing Scanning Probe Microscopy to Spain in 1984, Conference 20 Years of Fuerzas Y tunel 2023.
    

22. -    World Cultural Council Albert Einstein Award for Science 2023.
    

23. -    2023 winner World Cultural Council WCC ambassador Inspiring future generation to pursue Science For a better world
    

24. -    Citation Laureate™ by the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI)™ at Clarivate for 2024.