George Feher, Professor Emeritus in Physics at the University of California, San Diego, was a pioneering physicist and biophysicist who joined UCSD in 1960 as one of its founding faculty members. Born on May 29, 1924, in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, Feher escaped Nazi-occupied Europe at age 16 in 1940. Despite lacking a formal high school diploma, he was admitted to the University of California, Berkeley, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree, a Master of Science in engineering, and a Ph.D. in physics in 1954 under advisor Arthur F. Kip. From 1954 to 1960, he worked as a physicist at Bell Telephone Laboratories, advancing solid-state physics by contributing to the three-level maser used in America's first satellite in 1958 and inventing the electron-nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) technique, a cornerstone for modern spectroscopic studies including quantum computing applications. Concurrently, he taught part-time in Columbia University's Department of Physics.

Feher's tenure at UCSD marked a pivotal shift to biophysics; he established experimental physics programs and founded the university's biophysics program in 1964, creating a dedicated laboratory to develop physical techniques and theories probing the primary processes of photosynthesis. His research illuminated the fundamental mechanisms by which bacteria convert light into chemical energy, providing seminal insights with implications for designing synthetic and semi-synthetic molecular energy converters. Feher's meticulous approach and mentorship shaped generations of scientists, stressing openness, honesty, careful analysis, and detail-oriented experimentation. His profound contributions earned him election to the National Academy of Sciences in 1975, the American Physical Society Prize in 1960, Oliver E. Buckley Solid State Physics Prize in 1976, Biophysics Prize in 1982, Bruker Prize from the University of Oxford and Rumford Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1992, Zavoisky Award in 1996, honorary doctorate from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1994, and the Wolf Prize in Chemistry in 2007, presented at the Knesset. Feher authored 'Thoughts on the Holocaust' following a Shoah Foundation interview and passed away on November 28, 2017, in La Jolla after a long illness.

Professional Email: gfeher@physics.ucsd.edu