K. Alex Müller
Karl Alexander Müller | |
|---|---|
| Born | 20 April 1927 Basel, Switzerland |
| Died | 9 January 2023 (aged 95) Zürich, Switzerland |
| Occupation | Physicist |
| Known for | Nobel Prize in Physics (1987) for research on superconductivity in ceramic compounds |
Karl Alexander Müller (20 April 1927 – 9 January 2023) was a distinguished Swiss physicist and recipient of the Nobel Prize. In 1987, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics alongside Georg Bednorz for their pioneering research on superconductivity in ceramic compounds.
Early life and education
Born in Basel, Switzerland, to parents Irma (née Feigenbaum) and Paul Müller, Karl Alexander Müller experienced several relocations during his childhood. His family moved to Salzburg, Austria, where his father pursued musical studies. Subsequently, he and his mother settled in Dornach, close to Basel, before relocating to Lugano, located in the Italian-speaking part of Switzerland, where he acquired fluency in Italian. His mother passed away when he was eleven years old.
From 1938 to 1945, Müller attended the Evangelical College in Schiers, where he completed his baccalaureate (Matura). He then enrolled at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zürich), studying Physics and Mathematics and attending notable lectures by Wolfgang Pauli. After obtaining his Diplom, he spent a year working before returning to ETH Zürich to pursue his doctoral studies, culminating in the submission of his PhD thesis in 1957.
Career
Müller began his professional career at the Battelle Memorial Institute in Geneva, where he swiftly advanced to lead a magnetic resonance research group. Concurrently, he held a lecturing position at the University of Zürich. In 1963, he joined the IBM Zürich Research Laboratory based in Rüschlikon as a research staff member and remained affiliated with IBM until retirement. He was appointed professor at the University of Zurich in 1970 and served as head of the ZRL physics department from 1972 through 1985. In recognition of his contributions, Müller was named an IBM Fellow in 1982 and earned honorary doctorates from the Technical University of Munich, University of Geneva, and the University of Pavia.
Research
Müller's initial investigations involved examining the Hall Effect in gray tin. Prior to commencing graduate studies, he contributed to development work on the large-scale display system known as Eidophor at ETH.
During his tenure at IBM, Müller dedicated approximately fifteen years to studying SrTiO3 (strontium titanate) and related perovskite materials. His research encompassed exploring photochromic behavior induced by doping with transition-metal ions, analyzing chemical bonding characteristics, investigating ferroelectric properties, soft-mode phenomena, and structural phase transitions. These significant results were compiled into a publication co-authored with Tom Kool and released by World Scientific.
Personal life and death
In 1956, Müller married Ingeborg Marie Louise Winkler; together they had two children. He passed away on 9 January 2023 in Zürich at the age of 95.
Nobel Prize–winning work
In the early 1980s, Müller aimed to identify materials exhibiting superconductivity at elevated critical temperatures (Tc), which at that time were limited to approximately 23 K. To pursue this goal, he enlisted Georg Bednorz at IBM in 1983 to systematically investigate various oxide compounds—a strategy initially met with skepticism by many experts.
Their groundbreaking discovery came in 1986 when they observed superconductivity at 35 K within lanthanum barium copper oxide (LBCO), surpassing previous temperature records. This finding ignited widespread research into high-temperature superconductors such as BSCCO (with a Tc of 107 K) and YBCO (Tc = 92 K). Their results were published in Zeitschrift für Physik B. Shortly thereafter, other researchers including Shoji Tanaka and Paul Chu independently confirmed superconductivity at temperatures reaching 93 K in YBCO. This breakthrough attracted considerable scientific attention, epitomized by the renowned 1987 "Woodstock of physics" conference where Müller was among the keynote speakers.
For their seminal contributions, Müller and Bednorz were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1987—the award being granted within an exceptionally short period following their discovery.
Additional distinctions
- Honorary doctorate awarded by the University of Pavia in 1987
- Honorary doctorate in technology (dr. techn.) conferred by the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in 1992