In 2000 Herbert Kroemer, who was born in Germany, and works at UCSB in the USA shared half of the Nobel Prize for Physics with Zhores I. Alferov ( Russia ) "for basic work on information and communication technology" and in particular "for developing semiconductor heterostructures used in high-speed- and opto-electronics". The second half of the prize went to Jack S. Kilby, USA "for his part in the invention of the integrated circuit"
 

 

Video recorded in 2004. Herb Kroemer tells us that is his family were working class and his parents did not go to high school. His father was a Civil Servant but encouraged him to go to University. Kroemer himself was bored at school! He likes to take ideas to the extreme, pushing them to the limit and exploring his fundamental interests rather than following up applications.

Later in his career Kroemer went to work in the USA on transistors but had to wait for the technology to improve before he could develop his ideas. His work on transistors proved to be crucial for mobile phone technology. He is not religious but does not push his own attitude on others. His interests outside of science include gardening and reading.

 

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