▲ Andreas Heinrich, director of the IBS Center for Quantum Nanoscience (QNS)

Andreas Heinrich, director of the IBS Center for Quantum Nanoscience (QNS) will deliver the Karl Friedrich Bonhoeffer Award Lecture on December 17, 2021, at the Max Plank Institute for Biophysical Chemistry. This award has been given since 2016 to world-renowned scientists who are leading their field. Heinrich will give a lecture on quantum spins on surfaces at the institute and receive the award.

Heinrich is a pioneer of the quantum nanoscience field, which is at the intersection of quantum science and nanoscience. In November of this year, Heinrich along with leading researchers in the field published a review paper entitled ‘Quantum-Coherent Nanoscience’ in Nature Nanotechnology presenting the definition of the field. Heinrich’s research is focused on the quantum properties of individual atoms and molecules on surfaces.

His first major scientific breakthrough was single spin spectroscopy on surfaces using a scanning tunneling microscope (STM). He additionally invented the ESR-STM technique while a scientist at IBM by combining the atomic-scale spatial resolution of STM with the much higher energy resolution of electron spin resonance (ESR) to achieve an extraordinary advance in atom-level resolution. At QNS there are now a growing number of ESR-enabled STMs making it a sought-after research destination. QNS is engineering the quantum future with leading researchers from around to world.

The Max Plank Institute for Biophysical Chemistry is also known as the Karl Friedrich Bonhoeffer Institute. This institute is the only one within the Max Plank Society which combines the three classical disciplines of biology, physics, and chemistry. Heinrich said, “I am pleased and honored to receive the award for scientists who contributed to interdisciplinary research”. Heinrich also received the Heinrich Rohrer Medal on December 2020, awarded by the Japan Society of Vacuum and Surface Science.