Prof. em. Dr. Hans Melchior

Hans Melchior was Full Professor of Electronics beginning 1976, first in the Institutes for Electronics, Technical and Applied Physics, and since its foundation, in the Quantum Electronics Laboratory at the ETH. He retired October 1, 2000.

Prof. Melchior was born in 1935 and is from Ausserferrera GR. He studied electrical engineering at the ETH where he graduated in 1959 and earned his doctorate in 1965. He was a research engineer at the ATT Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, NJ, for twelve years. There he developed fast photodetectors, projection displays with liquid crystals and avalanche photodiodes for the first demonstrations of fiber optic communication. At the ETH, he headed the Laboratory for Microelectronics and Opto-electronics with a three five compound semiconductor technology laboratory for student training and opto-electronic and electronic device development. He was also involved in information and communication technology research for the European Union.

His research has led to the first low noise semiconductor lasers and the best optical waveguide switches to date; as well as to future-oriented optical signal processing components for highest speeds. Prof. Melchior-s research concentrated on opto-electronics and electronic components, from physical fundamentals over device technology to their applications in communication and signal processing.