Heinrich Rohrer

Swiss physicist (1933-2013) · Switzerland · Scientists · Died at 79

Heinrich Rohrer is read about 40 times a day, in 69 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 15 October 2026

The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 390 days, one point a day.

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He helped invent the microscope that let us see individual atoms - a tool that turned quantum mechanics from theory into something you could point at and map, one surface at a time.

Scientists Scientist Physics Switzerland Europe 20th Century

A life in dates

2013Died16 May 20132008“We live of novelty in science. So when you do something new, you have to overcome certain beliefs that it cannot be done, that it's not interesting and so on.”In their words9 April 2008Interview with Heinrich Rohrer at the Nobel Foundation, Stockholm, 9 April, 2008. The interviewer is Adam Smith, Editor-in-Chief ofRead the whole statement

“We had the freedom to make mistakes. That's something very important. Unfortunately, this freedom for scientists gets more and more lost. … Otherwise, you do the common things.”In their words9 April 2008Interview with Heinrich Rohrer at the Nobel Foundation, Stockholm, 9 April, 2008. The interviewer is Adam Smith, Editor-in-Chief ofRead the whole statement

“Young people are not yet biased in their mind. They are not completely taken by their expert opinions. Expert opinions have a difficulty to go beyond of what they know.”In their words9 April 2008Interview with Heinrich Rohrer at the Nobel Foundation, Stockholm, 9 April, 2008. The interviewer is Adam Smith, Editor-in-Chief ofRead the whole statement

1994“To my knowledge significant progress has never been born of competition. … In science, being 'better' than others is of little practical value.”In their wordsHeinrich Rohrer, in Science - A Part of Our Future, Interdisciplinary Science Reviews Vol. 19, 193, 1994.Read the whole statement

National Inventors Hall of FameAward1988Honorary Doctorate of the University of the Mediterranean - Aix Marseille IIAward1987Elliott Cresson MedalAward1986Nobel Prize in PhysicsAward1984EPS Europhysics PrizeAwardKing Faisal International Prize in ScienceAward1981“I lost all respect for angstroms.”In their wordsin Autobiography, from Nobel Lectures, Physics 1981-1990, Editor-in-Charge Tore Frängsmyr, Editor Gösta Ekspång, World ScientificRead the whole statement

1933Born6 June 1933

Also in Deutsch

Photos 4

In their own words 6

Heinrich Rohrer

6 statements, newest first

We live of novelty in science. So when you do something new, you have to overcome certain beliefs that it cannot be done, that it's not interesting and so on.
Apr 9, 2008, Interview with Heinrich Rohrer at the Nobel Foundation, Stockholm, 9 April, 2008. The interviewer is Adam Smith, Editor-in-Chief of, Own words
We had the freedom to make mistakes. That's something very important. Unfortunately, this freedom for scientists gets more and more lost. … Otherwise, you do the common things.
Apr 9, 2008, Interview with Heinrich Rohrer at the Nobel Foundation, Stockholm, 9 April, 2008. The interviewer is Adam Smith, Editor-in-Chief of, Own words
Young people are not yet biased in their mind. They are not completely taken by their expert opinions. Expert opinions have a difficulty to go beyond of what they know.
Apr 9, 2008, Interview with Heinrich Rohrer at the Nobel Foundation, Stockholm, 9 April, 2008. The interviewer is Adam Smith, Editor-in-Chief of, Own words

Wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0

Awards

National Inventors Hall of Fame1994

Honorary Doctorate of the University of the Mediterranean - Aix Marseille II1988

Elliott Cresson Medal1987

Nobel Prize in Physics1986

King Faisal International Prize in Science1984

EPS Europhysics Prize1984

IBM Fellow

In their orbit

Spouse: Rose-Marie Egger

About this person

Heinrich Rohrer was born in Switzerland on 6 June 1933. In 1986, he and Gerd Binnig shared half the Nobel Prize in Physics for designing the scanning tunneling microscope, a device that made it possible to image surfaces at the atomic level; Ernst Ruska took the other half that year. The STM didn't just refine existing methods - it opened a new dimension of measurement, giving scientists direct access to structures that had been theoretical abstractions. Rohrer died on 16 May 2013. A medal bearing his name is now awarded triennially by the Surface Science Society of Japan, IBM Research - Zurich, the Swiss Embassy in Japan, and his widow.

Country

Switzerland

In common with Heinrich

Gerd BinnigBoth received EPS Europhysics Prize

Harry KrotoBoth received EPS Europhysics Prize

Klaus von KlitzingBoth received EPS Europhysics Prize

Gerhard ErtlBoth received EPS Europhysics Prize

Peter GrünbergBoth received EPS Europhysics Prize

Richard SmalleyBoth received EPS Europhysics Prize

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