Research

Main research interests: Materials Science, Nanocrystalline Materials, Nanoglasses

In the late 1970s Herbert Gleiter’s research opened the way to a new area of Materials Science by realizing the idea to synthesize a new class of solid materials in which the volume fraction of interfaces is comparable to the volume fraction of the crystallites forming these interfaces. As the crystal size required to achieve this kind of structure is in the order of a few nanometers these materials are called today Nanocrystalline Materials.

In more recent years he expanded the field to nanostructured glassy materials, called today nanoglasses as well as to materials structured chemically on nanometer scale (nanometer structured alloys).

Career

• since 2015 Senior Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Studies, City University of Hong Kong
• since 2012 Founding Director of  the Herbert Gleiter Institute of  Nanoscience  of Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, China
• since 2006 Professor and Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Institute of Nanotechnology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Germany
• 2007-2010  Distinguished Professor, Arizona State University, Phoenix, USA
• 2005 Distinguished Scholar of the Korean Research Foundation
• 2004-2007 Kuang-pui Chair Professor, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
• 1998-2004 Executive Director of the Institute of Nanotechnology, Research Center Karlsruhe, Germany
• 1994-1998 Member of the Executive Board of the Research Center Karlsruhe, Germany
• 1987-1994 Senior Member and Founding Director of the Institute of New Materials, Germany
• 1982 Call to the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, Switzerland
• 1980 Call to the University of Hamburg-Harburg, Germany
• 1973-1994    Professor and Director of the Institute of Material Science, University of the Saarland, Germany
• 1972 Professor, Institute of Materials Science, University Bochum, Germany
• 1971 Visiting Professor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA
• 1970 D. Sc. in Material Science at the University of Bochum, Germany
• 1966-1969 Research Fellow at the Harvard University Cambridge, USA
• 1966 Ph.D. in Physics at the Technical University of Stuttgart, Germany
• 1965 Study of mechanical engineering and physics at the Technical University of Stuttgart, Germany, degree: graduate engineer

Functions

• 2015-2020 Member of the Advisory Board of the Global Academy of Engineering
• 2007-2012 Vice President of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
• since 1992 Member of the President’s Council of the University of Illinois, USA
• 2002-2012 Member of the Expert Advisory Board of the Elite Network of Bavaria, Germany
• 2005-2010 Member of the Supervisory Board of Elsevier (area: Material Research), Germany
• 1994-2010 Board of Trustees of the Freiburg Materials Research Centre, Freiburg University , Germany
• 1990-2005 Scientific Advisor to the German Israel Foundation (GIF)
• 2000-2003 Member of the Scientific Council of the Republic of Slovenia
• 1995-2000 Member of the Supervisory Board of the Hahn Schickard Society, Germany
• 1994-2000 Member of the Supervisory Board of Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany
• 1994-1998 Member of the Supervisory Board of BESSY, Germany
• 1994-1998 Scientific Advisor to the Hahn Meitner Institute Berlin, Germany
• 1989-2005 Central Selection Committee and Awards Committee of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany
• 1989-2003 Scientific Committee of the Polish Academy of Sciences

Honours and Memberships

• 2020 Fellow of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS)
• 2020 Honorary Doctor and Senior Fellow of the University of Lanzhou, China
• 2018  Jan Czochralski Medal and Award, Polish Academy of Science, Warsaw University
• since 2018 Senior Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Study (IAS), City University Hong Kong
• since 2016 Member of the US National Academy of Inventors
• since 2016 Fellow of the US-National Academy of Inventors (NAI) –  the invention of die nanomaterials was introduced into the NAI Hall of Fame
• 2016 Friendship Award and Medal of Merit of Chinese Government, Jianzu, China
• since 2015 Fellow of the Institute of Advanced Study, City University of Hong Kong
• 2015 Honorary Doctor of the City University of Hong Kong
• 2015  Cothenius Medal of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
• since 2015 Member of the Global Academy of Engineering
• since 2014 Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts
• since 2014 Member of the Academia Europaea
• 2014 Davis Lecture Award, North Carolina State University
• 2014 Distinguished Lecturer, University of Hong Kong
• 2012 Zijin Chair Professor Award of the Herbert Gleiter Institute of Nanoscience of the Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, China
• 2012 Nanomaterials Award 2012
• 2012 Edward DeMille Campbell Award, American Society for Metals (ASM)
• 2011 Fellow of the Indian Society of Mathematical Modelling
• 2011 Honorary Member of the American Nano Society
• 2011 Fellow of the Indian Society of Mathematical Modelling and Simulation
• 2011 Fellow of the Materials Research Society (MRS), USA
• since 2011 Member of the Indian National Science Academy
• since 2009 Member of the European Academy of Sciences
• since 2009 Member of the Indian Academy of Sciences
• 2009 Honorary Member of the German Materials Society
• 2009 Member of the Indian Academy of Sciences
• 2009 R.F. Mehl Award of the Minerals, Metals, Materials Society, USA
• 2009 Blaise Pascal Medal of the European Academy of Sciences, Belgium
• 2009 NANO Today Award of the Agency for Science, Technology Research, Singapore
• 2008 Honorary Member of the Materials Research Society (MRS), USA
• 2008 Honorary Doctor of the University of Muenster, Germany
• 2008 Honorary Doctor of the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, Switzerland
• 2008 Achievement Award NANOSPD Int. Steering Committee
• 2008 Staudinger-Durrer Lecture Award of the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, Switzerland
• 2008 Von Hippel Award of the Materials Research Society, USA
• 2007 Gold Medal of Acta Materialia
• 2006 Member of the Indian National Academy of Engineering
• 2006 Humboldt Medal of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany
• since 2006 Member of the Indian National Academy of Engineering
• 2005 Distinguished Scholar of the Korean Research Foundation
• 2004 Member and Honorary Professor of Lanzhou University, China
• since 2004 Member of the US National Academy of Engineering
• since 2004 Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• 2004 H. Lee Lecture Award of Chinese Academy of Science
• 2004 Honorary Professor at Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
• 2003 Nanomaterials Award of the Deutsche Bank, Germany
• 2002 Honorary Doctor of the Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany
• 2000 Van Horn Award of Case Western University Cleveland, USA
• 1999 Werner Heisenberg Medal of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany
• since 1998 Member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
• 1998 Heyn Medal of the German Society for Materials Science
• 1996 Honorary Fellow of the Materials Research Society of India
• 1995 Gold Medal of the Federation of European Material Societies (FEMS), Belgium
• 1994 Honorary Member of the Materials Research Society of India
• 1993 Vinci of Excellence Award of the Hennessy-Vuitton Foundation, France
• 1993  Max-Planck-Research Award of the Humboldt Foundation and the Max Planck-Society, Germany
• 1992 Member of the President’s Council of the University of Illinois, USA
• 1992 TMS Lecture Award of the US Minerals, Metals and Materials Society
• 1991 Order of Merit of Saarland, Germany
• 1988 Leibniz Prize of the German National Science Foundation (DFG)
• 1985 Fellow of the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science
• 1984  Alcoa Prize of the Alcoa Foundation, USA
• 1979 Karl Schurz Award of the University of Wisconsin, USA
• 1972 Masing Prize of the German Society for Metals