Alfred Benninghoven | |
|---|---|
| Born | February 18, 1932 |
| Died | December 22, 2017 (aged 85) |
| Alma mater | University of Paris University of Cologne |
| Known for | static secondary ion mass spectrometry |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | mass spectrometry |
| Institutions | University of Münster |
Alfred Benninghoven (8 February 1932 in Frankfurt - 22 December 2017 [1] ) was a German physicist and mass spectrometry researcher known for his work on static secondary ion mass spectrometry. [2]
Benninghoven graduated from the University of Cologne in 1961 where he worked with Fritz Kirchner (1896–1967) and completed his habilitation in surface physics in Cologne two years later. [2] He first worked as professor in Cologne from 1965 to 1973 until he moved to a full professor position in experimental physics at the University of Münster in 1972. [2] He worked on static secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and its applications, and developed SIMS instruments. In 1989 he co-founded IonTOF, a company that became a world-leader in TOF-SIMS instrumentation. [2] He has written over 300 scientific articles and several books on the topic of SIMS, many of which have become reference works on SIMS. [2]
For his work, he has received the Technology Transfer prize (German Ministry of Education and Research) and the 1984 Gaede-Langmuir Prize (American Vacuum Society) for the development of concepts and instrumentation in static secondary ion mass spectrometry and the demonstration of its usefulness in manifold applications. [3] In 1990 he shared the Fritz-Pregl-Medaille of the Austrian Society of Analytical Chemistry with Wilhelm Simon. From 1977 to 1983, he was president of the German Vacuum Society (part of the German Physical Society).