Heeger, Alan J.

Biography

Alan J. Heeger is currently a Professor of Physics and the Director of the Institute for Polymers and Organic Solids at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2000 along with his colleagues Alan MacDiarmid and Hideki Shirakawa for their work in the field of conductive polymers.

Heeger was born on January 22, 1936 in Sioux City, Iowa. He received a dual bachelor's degree in Physics and Mathematics from the University of Nebraska in 1957. In 1961, he received his PhD in Physics from the University of California, Berkeley while working for Lockheed Space and Missile Division. He joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania the following year, where he remained for twenty years. In 1975, Heeger met Alan MacDiarmid and together they began work in the field of metallic polymers. On a visit to Japan, MacDiarmid met Hideki Shirakawa, who came to the University of Pennsylvania as a Visiting Scientist.

Heeger left the University of Pennsylvania for UC Santa Barbara in 1982 and became part of the new Physics Department. Several years later, he assisted in developing the Macromolecular division of the new Materials Department. In 1986, Heeger and his colleagues encouraged Paul Smith of DuPont Central Research to join him at UC Santa Barbara and in 1990, they founded the UNIAX Corporation to develop commercial products from polymer materials, which was later acquired by DuPont.

Heeger's research at UC Santa Barbara covers the fields of conducting and semiconducting polymers, including research in polymer light-emitting diodes, light-emitting electrochemical cells and lasers, photoluminescent and electroluminescent studies, photoconductivity, and spectroscopic studies.

Heeger has been married to his wife Ruth for over forty years. His two sons also work in the sciences: David Heeger is a neuroscientist and Peter Heeger is an immunologist.

For more biographical information see also the following:

From the guide to the Alan J. Heeger Papers, ca. 1952-2003, 1980-2000, (University of California, Santa Barbara. Library. Dept. of Special Collections)