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Johannes Georg Bednorz received his master's degree from the University of Münster in 1976 and his PhD from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, ETH Zurich in 1982. In January 1982, he joined the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory in Rüschlikon, Switzerland, as a research staff member.
His research in the area of solid state physics was focused on the investigation of structural phase transitions and ferroelectric properties of perovskite-type oxides. From 1983 on, he concentrated on the investigation of metallic oxides with the goal to develop superconductors with high transition temperatures. In 1987, he and K. Alex Müller were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of high-Tc superconductivity in a new class of compounds.
Since then, his research activities as an IBM Fellow concentrate on the development of new complex oxide compounds and their specific modification for possible implementation in microelectronics. In this connection, his interest is focused on the behavior of thin epitaxial layers, in particular metal-insulator-metal heterostructures, in strong electric fields. This work led to the discovery of a charge driven insulator metal transition and resistive switching effects in perovskite oxides, which therefore can be added to the list of materials for possible memory applications.
In connection with the work that led to the Nobel Prize he received, together with
K. A. Müller, the Thirteenth Fritz London Memorial Award 1987 (University of California), the Marcel-Benoist Prize 1986 (Marcel-Benoist Foundation, Switzerland), the Dannie Heineman Prize 1987 (Academy of Sciences Göttingen) the Robert Wichard Pohl Prize 1987 (German Physical Society), the Hewlett-Packard Europhysics Prize 1988 (European Physical Society). In March 1988, he and Müller were awarded the International Prize for New Materials Research of the American Physical Society. He is also recipient of the Viktor Moritz Goldschmidt Prize 1987 (German Mineralogical Society), the Otto-Klung Prize 1987 (Free University of Berlin) and together with Müller of the Aldo-Villa Prize 1991 (Italian Ceramic Society).
He received the honorary degree of doctor of natural sciences from the University of Salzburg and the University of Regensburg. He is a Distinguished Member of the Academy of Ceramics, a Honorary Member of the American Ceramic Society and Fellow of the American Physical Society. In 1988, he received "Das Grosse Bundesverdienstkreuz mit Stern und Schulterband" from the German Federal Republic.
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