After obtaining a BS in Physics from Caltech, I moved to Cornell, where my thesis involved the development of near-field optics -- the first method to break the diffraction barrier in light microscopy. I then became a PI at AT&T Bell Labs in Murray Hill, NJ, where I further refined the technology and explored many applications, including high density data storage, semiconductor spectroscopy, and superresolution fluorescence imaging of cells. In 1993, I was the first to image single fluorescent molecules under ambient conditions, and determine their positions to better than 1/40 of the wavelength of light. Tiring of academia, I then served as VP of R&D in my father's machine tool company, developing a high speed motion control technology based on an electrohydraulic hybrid drive with adaptive control algorithms. Commercial failure of the technology left me unemployed and looking for new directions. This search eventually culminated in the invention and demonstration of the superresolution technique PALM by myself and my fellow unemployed colleague and Bell Labs expatriate, Harald Hess. This story is recounted here. Since 2005, I have been a Group Leader at Janelia, developing new optical imaging technologies for biology.
|Eric Betzig_CV_Oct 2014.pdf||376.67 KB|