PHYSICIST

Ivar Giaever

1929 - Today

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Ivar Giaever ( YAY-ver; Norwegian: [ˈîːvɑr ˈjæːvər]; April 5, 1929 – June 20, 2025) was a Norwegian-American physicist who shared the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physics with Leo Esaki and Brian Josephson. One half of the prize was awarded jointly to Esaki and Giaever "for their experimental discoveries regarding tunneling phenomena in semiconductors and superconductors, respectively". In 1975, he was elected as a member into the National Academy of Engineering for contributions in the discovery and elaboration of electron tunneling into superconductors. Giaever was a professor emeritus at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the president of the company Applied Biophysics. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Ivar Giaever is the 246th most popular physicist (up from 251st in 2019), the 62nd most popular biography from Norway (down from 45th in 2019) and the most popular Norwegian Physicist.

Giaever is most famous for being the first person to win the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1973.

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Among PHYSICISTS

Among physicists, Ivar Giaever ranks 246 out of 851. Before him are Willard Boyle, John Cockcroft, Gérard Mourou, William Shockley, David Bohm, and Satyendra Nath Bose. After him are Ratko Janev, Anton Zeilinger, Kenneth G. Wilson, C. P. Snow, Jim Peebles, and Benjamin Thompson.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1929, Ivar Giaever ranks 54. Before him are Karolos Papoulias, Mohamed Al-Fayed, Chet Baker, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Christa Wolf, and Nureddin al-Atassi. After him are Milorad Pavić, Bruno Cremer, John Cassavetes, James Last, Jean Simmons, and Bill Evans.

Others Born in 1929

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In Norway

Among people born in Norway, Ivar Giaever ranks 62 out of 1,039. Before him are Eystein I of Norway (1088), Anders Behring Breivik (1979), Trygve Haavelmo (1911), Peder Severin Krøyer (1851), Haakon Magnusson of Norway (1068), and Eiríkr Hákonarson (957). After him are Sonja Henie (1912), Johan Galtung (1930), Jonas Lie (1833), Finn E. Kydland (1943), Gustav Vigeland (1869), and Haakon Sigurdsson (930).

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Among PHYSICISTS In Norway

Among physicists born in Norway, Ivar Giaever ranks 1. After him are Vilhelm Bjerknes (1862), and Ole Jacob Broch (1818).

Norwegian born Physicists

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