Jürgen P. Rabe (born 20 November 1955 in Neuss) is a German physicist and nanoscientist.
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Life
Jürgen P. Rabe studied physics and mathematics at RWTH Aachen where in 1981 he obtained his diploma in physics, based on a thesis on semiconductor optics with Peter Grosse. 1984 he obtained his doctoral degree from the Department of Physics at the Technische Universität München, based on a biophysical thesis on model membranes, promoted by Erich Sackmann.
As a visiting scientist at the IBM Almaden Research Center in San José (1984 - 1986) he initiated the use of scanning tunneling microscopy for molecular monolayers, which he continued in Gerhard Wegner’s department at the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research.
In 1992 he obtained his habilitation on this topic and became a professor for physical chemistry at Johannes Gutenberg-Universität in Mainz. Since 1994 he is full professor for experimental physics with an emphasis on macromolecular and supramolecular systems at the Department of Physics at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Rabe is an elected scientific member of the Max Planck Society and external member of the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam-Golm as well as a founding member and speaker for the Integrative Research Institute for the Sciences IRIS Adlershof at the Humboldt-Universität. He was the head of the Mathematics and Natural Science Faculty I at the Humboldt-Universität and visiting professor at the Materials Department of ETH Zürich and for the Department of Chemistry at Princeton University.
Research
Rabe became internationally well known for his seminal scanning tunnel microscopic work on the structure, dynamics, and electronic properties of self-assembled molecular systems at solid-liquid interfaces, with the first paper alone being cited more than 660 times. He then developed concepts for a workbench to manipulate individual macromolecules and supramolecular systems, employing scanning probe microscopies, light, and molecularly modified graphite surfaces. It has been used to correlate structure and dynamics of molecular systems with mechanical, electronic, optical, and (bio)chemical properties from molecular to macromolecular lengths and time scales. It also led to the development of prototypical quasi 1- and 2- dimensional organic-inorganic hybrid systems, based on opto-electronically active molecular or graphite-based nanopores. Rabe published more than 340 scientific articles, which have been cited more than 13.000 times.