Rainer Beck

Rainer Beck is a Professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) since 2006, where he leads a research laboratory focused on gas-surface chemistry. He also teaches General Chemistry for first-year medical students at the University of Lausanne (UNIL).

His educational background includes a PhD in Physical Chemistry from Oregon State University (1990) and a Degree in Physics from Universität Stuttgart (1985). His academic journey continued with a Habilitation at Universität Karlsruhe (1996) and he became a Privat Docent at EPFL in 1997.

Professor Beck's research centers on elementary steps of chemical reactions between gas-phase molecules and solid surfaces, employing molecular beams and laser radiation for quantum state resolved reactivity measurements. His laboratory specializes in chemisorption studies (e.g., methane on nickel catalysts) and state-to-state molecule/surface scattering experiments using the BILT detection method—a combination of bolometric detection and state-specific infrared laser tagging. This work provides critical data for theoretical models of gas-surface reactions essential to industrial catalytic processes, spanning Surface Science, Molecular Beam Scattering, and Laser Spectroscopy.

His laboratory collaborates extensively with theoretical groups to develop predictive understanding of molecule/surface reactions. While specific grant details and student supervision are not documented in the source text, his research has significant implications for catalysis technology and surface engineering applications.