William E. Moerner

William E. Moerner
Moerner in 2024
Born
William Esco Moerner

(1953-06-24) June 24, 1953 (age 71)
Pleasanton, California, U.S.
Alma mater
AwardsWolf Prize in Chemistry (2008)
Irving Langmuir Award (2009)
Peter Debye Award
(2013)
Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2014)
Scientific career
FieldsChemistry, applied physics, biophysics
Institutions
ThesisVibrational relaxation dynamics of an IR-laser-excited molecular impurity mode in alkali halide lattices (1982)
Doctoral advisorAlbert J. Sievers
Other academic advisorsJames Gegan Miller

William Esco Moerner, also known as W. E. Moerner, (born June 24, 1953) is an American physical chemist and chemical physicist with current work in the biophysics and imaging of single molecules. He is credited with achieving the first optical detection and spectroscopy of a single molecule in condensed phases, along with his postdoc, Lothar Kador.[1][2] Optical study of single molecules has subsequently become a widely used single-molecule experiment in chemistry, physics and biology.[3] In 2014, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.[4][5]

Bacteria-3D-Double-Helix.
This image shows 3D super-resolution imaging of Caulobacter crescentus bacteria cell surfaces (gray) and a labeled protein (CreS, orange-red) obtained using the double-helix single-molecule active control microscopy technique.
  1. ^ Reich, Ziv; Kapon, Ruti (8 June 2010). "Foreword by the Guest Editors". Israel Journal of Chemistry. 49 (3–4). Wiley: n/a. doi:10.1002/ijch.201090002. ISSN 0021-2148.
  2. ^ Moerner, W. E.; Kador, L. (22 May 1989). "Optical detection and spectroscopy of single molecules in a solid". Physical Review Letters. 62 (21). American Physical Society (APS): 2535–2538. Bibcode:1989PhRvL..62.2535M. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.62.2535. ISSN 0031-9007. PMID 10040013.
  3. ^ Gräslund, Astrid; Rigler, Rudolf; Widengren, Jerker, eds. (2010). "Single Molecule Spectroscopy in Chemistry, Physics and Biology". Springer Series in Chemical Physics. Vol. 96. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-02597-6. ISBN 978-3-642-02596-9. ISSN 0172-6218.
  4. ^ "Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2014." Nobelprize.org (accessed October 8, 2014).
  5. ^ "Professor W.E. Moerner wins the Nobel Prize in Chemistry." Stanford Report, October 8, 2014 (accessed October 8, 2014).