Victor Henrich

Victor Henrich is the Eugene Higgins Professor Emeritus of Applied Science and of Applied Physics and Physics at Yale. He completed BSE and PhD degrees at the University of Michigan and has been a faculty member at Yale since 1978.

His research has focused on surfaces where solid materials interact with their surroundings, with a focus on metals and semiconductors, particularly metal oxides, with applications in heterogeneous catalysis, geology and the environment, semiconductor technology, and exotic phenomena such as high-temperature superconductivity. Major themes of his research in the NSF-funded Surface Science Laboratory were the production of hydrogen from water as a fuel, surface magnetism, and how the properties of atoms at the surface of a solid differ from those of the bulk.

Professor Henrich’s leadership on oxide surfaces is exemplified by a series of published papers and by his book, The Surface Science of Metal Oxides, first published in 1994, which has remained authoritative and influential. The recipient of Yale’s Sheffield Distinguished Teaching Award in 2005, his courses included “The Technological World,” focused on the concepts behind the ubiquitous electrical and optical technologies that have transformed the lives of humankind, and the graduate-level “Solid State Physics.” He assumed the chairmanship of Applied Physics and steered it to the beginning of its status as an independent department. He served as director of the Division of Physical Sciences. Alongside his wife, Head of College Jan Henrich, he served as associate head of Trumbull College for sixteen years.