Don Eigler
{{Short description|American physicist (born 1953)}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Don Eigler
|image = Don Eigler Neon Argon.jpg
|birth_name =Donald M. Eigler
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1953|03|23}}
|birth_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.
| fields = Nanotechnology
| workplaces =
| alma_mater =University of California San Diego
}}
Donald M. Eigler (March 23, 1953) is an American physicist associated with the IBM Almaden Research Center, who is noted for his achievements in nanotechnology.
Work
In 1989, Eigler was the first to use a scanning tunneling microscope tip to arrange individual atoms on a surface, spelling out the letters "IBM" with 35 xenon atoms. He later went on to create the first quantum corrals, which are well-defined quantum wave patterns of small numbers of atoms, and nanoscale logic circuits using individual molecules of carbon monoxide. He shared the 2010 Kavli Prize in Nanoscience with Nadrian Seeman for these breakthroughs.{{cite web|title=2010 Nanoscience Prize Explanatory Notes|url=http://www.kavlifoundation.org/2010-nanoscience-prize-explanatory-notes|publisher=Kavli Foundation|access-date=5 February 2012|date=2009|archive-date=19 April 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160419135035/http://www.kavlifoundation.org/2010-nanoscience-prize-explanatory-notes|url-status=dead}}
Eigler's 1989 research, along with Erhard K. Schweizer, involved a new use of the scanning tunneling microscope, which had been invented in the mid 1980s by Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer, also of IBM. The microscope had previously been used for atomic-resolution imaging, but this was the first time it had been used as an active technique, to precisely position individual atoms on a surface. The technique requires vacuum conditions and ultra-cold temperatures achieved by liquid helium cooling, and was featured on the cover of the journal Nature. At the time, it was seen as a potential first step towards applications in mechanosynthesis, where chemical reactions could be manipulated one molecule at a time.{{cite news|last=Browne|first=Malcolm W.|title=2 Researchers Spell 'I.B.M.,' Atom by Atom|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/05/us/2-researchers-spell-ibm-atom-by-atom.html|access-date=5 February 2012|newspaper=The New York Times|date=5 April 1990}}{{Cite journal | doi = 10.1126/science.250.4986.1340-a | title = A New Role for the STM | journal = Science | volume = 250 | issue = 4986 | pages = 1340–1341 | year = 1990 | pmid = 17754978 }} Eigler's 2002 research, along with Andreas J. Heinrich, used a cascade of collisions of carbon monoxide molecules to perform logic operations.{{cite news|last=Chang|first=Kenneth|title=Scientists Shrink Computing to Molecular Level|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/25/technology/25COMP.html|access-date=5 February 2012|newspaper=The New York Times|date=25 October 2002}}
Eigler graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a bachelor's degree in 1975 and a doctoral degree in 1984. He was postdoctoral staff at AT&T Bell Labs for two years, and then moved to IBM where he was appointed IBM Fellow in 1993.{{cite web|title=Don Eigler|url=http://www.ieeeghn.org/wiki/index.php/Don_Eigler|work=IEEE Global History Network|publisher=Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers|access-date=5 February 2012}}{{cite web|title=Don Eigler|url=http://researcher.ibm.com/view.php?person=almaden-eigler|publisher=IBM|access-date=5 February 2012|archive-date=8 February 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120208130103/http://researcher.ibm.com/view.php?person=almaden-eigler|url-status=dead}} He retired from IBM in 2011.[http://www.nanotech.upenn.edu/news_images/don_eigler.html “Bio: Don Eigler”] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304032029/http://www.nanotech.upenn.edu/news_images/don_eigler.html |date=2016-03-04 }}, Nano/Bio Interface Center, University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 2012-11-15.
He was elected in 1995 a Fellow of the American Physical Society{{cite web|title=APS Fellow Archive|website=American Physical Society|url=https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/fellowships/archive-all.cfm?initial=&year=1995&unit_id=&institution=IBM+Almaden+Research+Center}} (search on year=1995 and institution=IBM Almaden Research Center) and in 1999 a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.{{cite web|title=Historic Fellows|website=American Association for the Advancement of Science|url=https://www.aaas.org/fellows/historic}}
References
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{{Kavli Prize laureates}}
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Category:American nanotechnologists
Category:University of California, San Diego alumni
Category:Kavli Prize laureates in Nanoscience
Category:Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science