Rate My Professor W.E. Moerner

W. E. (William Esco) Moerner is the Harry S. Mosher Professor of Chemistry and Professor by courtesy of Applied Physics at Stanford University. He earned a B.S. in Physics and Electrical Engineering and an A.B. in Mathematics from Washington University in 1975, followed by an M.S. in 1978 and a Ph.D. in Physics in 1982 from Cornell University. After completing his doctorate, he joined the IBM Research Division in 1982, where he worked on spectral holeburning and photorefractivity until 1995. He then served as Distinguished Professor of Physical Chemistry at UC San Diego from 1995 to 1997 before joining the Stanford Chemistry Department faculty in 1997. He chaired the Stanford Chemistry Department from 2011 to 2014.

Moerner’s research focuses on the optical properties of single molecules, biophysics, and the development of super-resolution fluorescence microscopy techniques, including applications in 2D and 3D imaging of cellular structures, viral components, and protein dynamics. His contributions to single-molecule spectroscopy and super-resolved fluorescence microscopy were recognized with the 2014 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the American Physical Society, the Optical Society of America, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and SPIE. Additional honors include the Wolf Prize in Chemistry and the Peter Debye Award in Physical Chemistry.