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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alex Zettl | 1/3 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Zettl | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T16:44:58.484535+00:00 | kb-cron |
Alex K. Zettl (born Oct. 11, 1956) is an American experimental physicist, educator, and inventor. He is a professor of the Graduate School in Physics at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Senior Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Zettl is a leading expert in the synthesis, characterization, and application of low dimensional materials. He has synthesized and studied new materials, notably those based on carbon, boron and nitrogen, and has made numerous inventions in the field of electronic materials and nano-electromechanical systems. Zettl and his research team were the first to synthesize boron nitride nanotubes, and created carbon nanotube chemical sensors. He and his team built the world's smallest synthetic electrically powered rotational nanomotor, the smallest fully integrated FM radio receiver, a nanomechanical mass balance with single-atom sensitivity, voltage-controllable nanoscale relaxation oscillators, and a nanoscale thermal rectifier useful for phononic circuitry He and his team invented the nanomanipulator, suspended graphene grid, and the graphene liquid cell and graphene flow cell, all of which have greatly advanced transmission electron microscopy.
== Early life and education == Zettl was born in San Francisco, California. He attended Sir Francis Drake High School (now Archie Williams High School), the University of California, Berkeley (A.B. 1978) and the University of California, Los Angeles (M.S. 1980, Ph.D. 1983). His doctoral field of study was experimental condensed matter physics. His Ph.D. advisor was Prof. George Grüner.
== Career == As a graduate student, Zettl closely collaborated with two-time Physics Nobel Laureate John Bardeen. Bardeen had developed a new theory of macroscopic quantum tunneling of charge density waves, and Zettl performed experiments to test the theory. After completing his Ph.D., Zettl immediately assumed a faculty position in the Physics Department at the University of California, Berkeley, and has remained there throughout his academic career (Assistant Professor, 1983–86; Associate Professor, 1986–1988; Professor, 1988–2022; Professor of the Graduate School in Physics, 2022–present). At the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Zettl led the superconductivity program from 1990 to 2002, and the sp2-bonded materials program from 1997 to 2022. From 2004 to 2014 he directed the National Science Foundation funded Center of Integrated Nanomechanical Systems. The Center brought together approximately 25 research teams from four institutions (UC Berkeley, Stanford University, California Institute of Technology, and UC Merced) and fostered highly interdisciplinary nanoelectromechanical research. The center also developed numerous educational outreach programs. From 2013 to 2015 Zettl was co-director (along with Carolyn Bertozzi), and from 2015 to 2022 Director, of the Berkeley Nanosciences and Nanoengineering Institute (BNNI), an umbrella organization for expanding and coordinating Berkeley research and educational activities in nanoscale science and engineering. Zettl has advised approximately 50 graduate students (including those earning Ph.D. degrees in chemistry, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and materials science), and approximately 40 postdoctoral researchers.