Ivar Giaever

Class of 1964
Research Scientist, Nobel Laureate
1929 -

In his native Norway, Giaever earned a degree in mechanical engineering. Later, working as an engineer for General Electric, he earned a doctorate in physics at Rensselaer.

Before he had completed his Ph.D., he had done such important work on low-temperature superconductors at the GE Research and Development Center that he would be awarded the 1973 Nobel Prize in physics. By then, he already had moved on to the new field of biology.

He has spent most of his efforts since 1971 studying the behavior of organic molecules at solid surfaces.

Giaever was named an Institute Professor of Science at Rensselaer in 1988, and was awarded the Rensselaer Alumni Association’s Outstanding Faculty Award in 1994.