Eric Betzig | |
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.jpg) Betzig in 2015 | |
| Born | Robert Eric Betzig[1] (1960-01-13)January 13, 1960 (age 65) Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S. |
| Alma mater | |
| Known for | Photoactivated localization microscopy Lattice light-sheet microscopy |
| Spouses |
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| Children | Cayden, Ravi, Max, Mia, Zoe |
| Awards | |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Applied physics |
| Institutions | Howard Hughes Medical Institute University of California, Berkeley |
| Thesis | Near-field Scanning Optical Microscopy (1988) |
| Doctoral advisor | Michael Isaacson |
| Website | hhmi |
Robert Eric Betzig (born January 13, 1960) is anAmericanphysicist who works as a professor of physics and professor of molecular and cell biology at theUniversity of California, Berkeley.[2][3][4] He is also a senior fellow at theJanelia Farm Research Campus inAshburn, Virginia.[2][4][5]
Betzig has worked to develop the field offluorescence microscopy andphotoactivated localization microscopy. He was awarded the 2014Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "the development of super-resolved fluorescence microscopy"[6] along withStefan Hell and fellow Cornell alumnusWilliam E. Moerner.[7]
Betzig was born inAnn Arbor, Michigan, in 1960, the son of Helen Betzig and engineer Robert Betzig. Aspiring to work in the aerospace industry, Betzig studiedphysics at theCalifornia Institute of Technology and graduated with aBS degree in 1983. He then went on to study atCornell University where Michael Isaacson was his supervisor, and he also worked with Aaron Lewis. There he obtained anMS degree and aPhD degree inapplied physics andengineering physics in 1985 and 1988, respectively. For his PhD he focused on developing high-resolution optical microscopes that could see past the theoretical limit of 0.2 micrometers.[8][9][10]
After receiving his doctorate, Betzig was hired byAT&T Bell Laboratories in the Semiconductor Physics Research Department in 1989. That year Betzig's colleague, William E. Moerner, developed the first optical microscope that could see past the .2 micrometer limit, known as theAbbe limit, but it could only function at temperatures nearabsolute zero. Inspired by Moerner's research, Betzig became the first person to image individual fluorescent molecules at room temperature while determining their positions within less than .2 micrometers in 1993. For this he received theWilliam O. Baker Award for Initiatives in Research (previously known as the National Academy of Sciences Award for Initiatives in Research).[8] Betzig was also awarded theWilliam L. McMillan Award in 1992.[11]
In 1994, Betzig became frustrated with the academic community and the uncertainty of the corporate structure of Bell Laboratories, prompting him to leave both. He spent some years as astay-at-home dad before reentering the workforce in 1996, when he took up the position of vice president ofresearch and development at Ann Arbor Machine Company, which was partially owned by the Betzig family.[12][7] Here he developed Flexible Adaptive Servohydraulic Technology (FAST), but after spending millions of dollars on development he only sold two devices.[8][9][12][13]
In 2002, Betzig returned to the field of microscopy and founded New Millennium Research inOkemos, Michigan. Inspired byMike Davidson's work with fluorescent proteins, he developed photoactivated localization microscopy (PALM), a method of controlling fluorescent proteins that used pulses of light to create images of a higher resolution than were previously thought possible. In the living room of his old Bell Labs collaboratorHarald Hess, Betzig and Hess developed the first optical microscope based on this technology. They built their first prototype in under two months, earning them widespread attention. In October of that year, theHoward Hughes Medical Institute'sJanelia Farm Research Campus hired him, but his lab was still under construction at the time.[9]
In early 2006, he formally joined Janelia as a group leader to work on developingsuper high-resolution fluorescence microscopy techniques. He used this technique to study the division of cells in human embryos.[7][14] In 2010, he was offered theMax Delbruck Prize, but he declined it andXiaowei Zhuang received the award. In 2014, Betzig was jointly awarded theNobel Prize in Chemistry along withStefan Hell andWilliam E. Moerner.[6][9][15]
On May 31, 2016 he was appointed an Academician of thePontifical Academy of Sciences byPope Francis.
In the summer of 2017, Betzig joined theBerkeley faculty with a joint appointment atLawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.[16]
Betzig has married twice. His first wife wascondensed matter physicistRuby Ghosh [d],[10] with whom he has two sons, Cayden and Ravi.[21] His second wife isbiophysicistNa Ji,[16] with whom he has three children, Max, Mia and Zoe.[21]
I'm also lucky in that I have a second chance to be a better husband and father. While IÏm close with Kriya and Ravi, one of my regrets is that I didnÏt spend more time with them when they were growing up. Na and I have two happy and beautiful little hellions, Max and Mia, and I have the opportunity to be with them more. I donÏt know, though, if IÏll ever figure out how to optimally balance my responsibility and desire to be at both work and home.
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| Academics | |
