Gerard Meijer (born 6 April 1962 in Zeddam, the Netherlands) established himself in the 1990s as a leader in experimental molecular physics, exploring cavity-ring-down spectroscopy, the properties of fullerenes, and the dynamics of small molecules in solid matrices. Together with his group, he advanced laser-based spectroscopic techniques and made use of the infrared free-electron laser FELIX. He is especially well known for his role in the invention and development of Stark deceleration, a groundbreaking method to state-select and slow down polar molecules with electric fields, which opened new directions in the study of cold and ultracold molecules. Gerard’s career has combined scientific leadership with institutional service. Appointed full professor at his alma mater, Radboud University Nijmegen in 1995, he later served as director of the FOM Institute for Plasma Physics “Rijnhuizen” (2000–2003). From 2002 to 2012 he was director of the Fritz Haber Institute (FHI) of the Max Planck Society in Berlin. He then returned to the Netherlands as president of Radboud University Nijmegen (2012–2016), while remaining an external scientific member of the FHI. In 2017, he resumed his directorship at the FHI, leading its Department of Molecular Physics. Throughout his career, Gerard has authored over three hundred research papers that have had a major impact on molecular physics. His work has been recognized with numerous distinctions, including the Bourke Award of the Royal Society of Chemistry (2009), the van’t Hoff Prize of the German Bunsen Society (2012), and the MOLEC Senior Scientist Award (2024).
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