# Biography:Klaus von Klitzing

Short description: German physicist (born 1943)
Klaus von Klitzing
Klitzing in 2015
Born28 June 1943 (age 79)
Schroda, Reichsgau Posen, Germany
(now Środa Wielkopolska, Poland )
NationalityGerman
Known forQuantum Hall effect[1]
Scientific career
FieldsPhysics
Websitewww.fkf.mpg.de/klitzing

Klaus von Klitzing (German: [klaʊ̯s fɔn ˈklɪ.t͡sɪŋ] (), born 28 June 1943, Schroda) is a German physicist, known for discovery of the integer quantum Hall effect, for which he was awarded the 1985 Nobel Prize in Physics.[2][3]

## Education

In 1962, Klitzing passed the Abitur at the Artland-Gymnasium in Quakenbrück, Germany, before studying physics at the Braunschweig University of Technology, where he received his diploma in 1969. He continued his studies at the University of Würzburg at the chair of Gottfried Landwehr, completing his PhD thesis entitled Galvanomagnetic Properties of Tellurium in Strong Magnetic Fields in 1972, and gaining habilitation in 1978.

## Research and career

During his career Klitzing has worked at the Clarendon Laboratory at the University of Oxford and the Grenoble High Magnetic Field Laboratory in France (now LNCMI), where he continued to work until becoming a professor at the Technical University of Munich in 1980. He has been a director of the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart since 1985.[4]

The von Klitzing constant, RK = h/e2 = 25812.80745... Ω,[5] is named in honor of Klaus von Klitzing's discovery of the quantum Hall effect, and is listed in the National Institute of Standards and Technology Reference on Constants, Units, and Uncertainty. The inverse of the constant is equal to half the value of the conductance quantum.

More recently, Klitzing's research focuses on the properties of low-dimensional electronic systems, typically in low temperatures and in high magnetic fields.

## Honours and awards

Von Klitzing has won numerous awards and honours including:

• 1981 Walter Schottky Prize
• 1982 EPS Europhysics Prize
• 1982 Hewlett-Packard Prize
• 1985 Nobel Prize in Physics
• 1985 Directorate for life at the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research
• 1986 Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement[6]
• 1986 Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg
• 1988 Honorary Doctorate from the Technical University of Karl-Marx-Stadt
• 1988 Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art
• 1988 Dirac Medal
• 1992 Honorary Degree (Doctor of Science) from the University of Bath[7]
• 1999 Honorary Member of the German Physical Society
• 2003 Elected a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (ForMemRS)[8]
• 2005 Carl Friedrich Gauss Medal of the Brunswick Scientific Society[9]
• 2006 Honorary Doctorate of the University of Oldenburg
• 2007 Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
• 2007 Member of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences
• 2009 Austrian Decoration for Science and Art[10]
• 2012 Distinguished Affiliated Professor at the Technical University of Munich
• 2016 Honoris Causa Doctorate of the Universidad Nacional de San Martín[11]
• 2019 Pour le Mérite for Sciences and Arts[12]
• Professor von Klitzing Strasse in Quakenbrück and Klaus von Klitzing Strasse in Landau are named after von Klitzing
• 2019 Fray International Sustainability Award given at SIPS 2019 by FLOGEN Star Outreach[13]

## References

1. Klitzing, K. v.; Dorda, G.; Pepper, M. (1980). "New Method for High-Accuracy Determination of the Fine-Structure Constant Based on Quantized Hall Resistance". Physical Review Letters (American Physical Society) 45 (6): 494–497. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.45.494. Bibcode1980PhRvL..45..494K.
2. "The Nobel Prize in Physics 1985". Nobel Media AB 2014. "The Nobel Prize in Physics 1985 was awarded to Klaus von Klitzing "for the discovery of the quantized Hall effect"."
3. "Klaus von Klitzing". www.nobel-winners.com. 2003.
4. K. von Klitzing; G. Dorda; M. Pepper (1980). "New Method for High-Accuracy Determination of the Fine-Structure Constant Based on Quantized Hall". Physical Review Letters 45 (6): 494–497. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.45.494. Bibcode1980PhRvL..45..494K.
5. "2018 CODATA Value: von Klitzing constant". The NIST Reference on Constants, Units, and Uncertainty. NIST. 20 May 2019. Retrieved 2019-05-20.
6. "Golden Plate Awardees of the American Academy of Achievement". American Academy of Achievement.
7. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named formemrs
8. "Preisträger/innen" (in de). Braunschweigische Wissenschaftliche Gesellschaft. "2005: Klaus von Klitzing, Dr. rer. nat., Dr. h. c. mult., Professor für Festkörperphysik, Direktor am Max-Planck-Institut für Festkörperforschung, Stuttgart, Honorarprofessor an der Universität Stuttgart"
9. "10542/AB XXIV. GP – Anfragebeantwortung" (in de). 23 April 2012. p. 1841.
10. "Doctorado Honoris Causa" (in es). Noticias UNSAM. 2016-11-17.
11. "Orden Pour le mérite wählt neue Mitglieder" (in de). Presse- und Informationsamt der Bundesregierung. 2019.