Rolf Landauer

Rolf
Landauer
Year
1992
Subject
Physics
Award
Ballantine
Affiliation
T.J. Watson Research Center
Citation
For his contributions to condensed matter physics.

Rolf Landauer pioneered a new view of transport theory which has become fundamental to modern understanding of quantum coherent transport in metals and semiconductors. During his long career at IBM Research, he emphasized the connection between information processing and fundamental laws of physics, and discovered the connection between logical irreversibility and heat generation by computers now known as Landauer's principle.

Dr. Landauer was born in Stuttgart, Germany in 1927, and moved with his family to the United States in 1938. Dr. Landauer received his Ph.D. in physics from Harvard University in 1950 and spent two years at NASA's Lewis Laboratory in Cleveland, Ohio before joining the research staff of IBM in 1952. While at IBM, he held a variety of research and managerial positions, including Director of Solid State Sciences, Director of Physical Sciences, and Assistant Director of Research. In June of 1969, he was appointed an IBM Fellow, and continued to work full-time until his retirement in 1993. Dr. Landauer died in 1999 at the age of 72.

Information as of 1999