Ivar Giaever

Ivar Giaever (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Langx, Template:IPA; April 5, 1929 – June 20, 2025) was a Norwegian–American experimental physicist who shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physics with Leo Esaki and Brian Josephson. One half of the prize was jointly awarded to Esaki and Giaever "for their experimental discoveries regarding tunneling phenomena in semiconductors and superconductors, respectively."<ref name="2011-06-27_Nobelcitation" />

Biography

Ivar Giaever was born on April 5, 1929, in Bergen, Norway. He studied mechanical engineering at the Norwegian Institute of Technology in Trondheim, graduating with an M.Eng. in 1952. In 1954, he emigrated to Canada, where he was employed by the Canadian division of General Electric. He then moved to the United States in 1958, joining General Electric's Research Laboratory in Schenectady, New York.

In 1960, following from Leo Esaki's discovery of electron tunneling in semiconductors in 1958, Giaever showed that tunneling also took place in superconductors, demonstrating tunneling through a very thin layer of oxide surrounded on both sides by metal in a superconducting or normal state.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> His experiments demonstrated the existence of an energy gap in superconductors, one of the most important predictions of the BCS theory of superconductivity, which had been developed in 1957.<ref>Bardeen, Cooper, and Schrieffer won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1972 for this theoretical advance, which bears their initials.</ref> Giaever's experimental demonstration of tunneling in superconductors stimulated the theoretical physicist Brian Josephson to work on the phenomenon, leading to his prediction of the Josephson effect in 1962. Esaki and Giaever shared half of the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physics, and Josephson received the other half.<ref name="1973-10-23_Nobelpressrelease" />

In 1964, Giaever received his Ph.D. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, and became a naturalized U.S. citizen.

Giaever's research later in his career was mainly in the field of biophysics. In 1969, he studied biophysics for a year at the University of Cambridge in England through a Guggenheim Fellowship. He continued to work in this area after he returned to the United States, founding the company Applied BioPhysics, Inc., in 1993.<ref name="Lundqvist_1992_nobelbio" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 1988, Giaever left General Electric to become Institute Professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In addition, he became a professor at the University of Oslo, sponsored by Statoil.<ref name="Lundqvist_1992_nobelbio" />

Giaever died on June 20, 2025, in Schenectady at the age of 96.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Personal life

In 1952, Giaever married his childhood sweetheart Inger Skramstad, who died on September 12, 2023, at the age of 94.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> They had four children.

Giaever was a climate change denier, who fueled doubt on climate change,<ref>Jeffrey D. Corbin, Miriam E. Katz: Effective strategies to counter campus presentations on climate denial. Eos. 93, 27, 2012, Template:Doi</ref> for example calling it a "new religion"; however, he had presented no strong evidence to support this position.<ref name="Strassel_2009-06-26_WSJ" /> On September 13, 2011, he resigned from the American Physical Society after the organization called the evidence of damaging global warming "incontrovertible."<ref>War of words over global warming as Nobel laureate resigns in protest. The Telegraph. September, 25, 2011.</ref>

Giaever was a science advisor to the Heartland Institute, an American conservative and libertarian think tank that denies climate change.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Giaever co-signed a letter from over 70 Nobel laureate scientists to the Louisiana State Legislature supporting the repeal of the Louisiana Science Education Act.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Giaever was an atheist.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Recognition

Awards

Country	Year	Institute	Award	Citation	Template:Reference column heading
Template:Flag	1965	American Physical Society	Oliver E. Buckley Prize	"For being first to use electron tunneling in the study of the energy gap in superconductors and for demonstrating the power of this technique"	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Template:Flag	1973	Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences	Nobel Prize in Physics	"For their experimental discoveries regarding tunneling phenomena in semiconductors and superconductors, respectively" (with Leo Esaki)	<ref name="2011-06-27_Nobelcitation" />

Memberships

Country	Year	Institute	Type	Section	Template:Reference column heading
Template:Flag	1974	National Academy of Sciences	Member	Applied Physical Sciences	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Template:Flag	1975	National Academy of Engineering	Member	Bioengineering	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Template:Flag		Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters	Foreign Member	Technology	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Honorary degrees

Country	Year	Institute	Degree	Template:Reference column heading
Template:Flag	1985	Norwegian Institute of Technology	Template:Lang	<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Selected publications

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• Giaever, Ivar (2016). "I Am The Smartest Man I Know": A Nobel Laureate's Difficult Journey, World Scientific. Template:ISBN.

External links

• Interview with Professor Ivar Giaever, from the Official Nobel Prize Website
• Template:Nobelprize including the Nobel Lecture, December 12, 1973 Electron Tunneling and Superconductivity
• University of Oslo website about Ivar Giaever
• Family genealogy