UpDate - Vol. 12, No. 37, Page 9
July 22, 1993
Karl W. Boer named distinguished prof 

     Karl W. Boer has been named Distinguished Professor of Physics and
Solar Energy by the University of Delaware.
     A pioneer in the fields of solar cells, solar energy systems and solid
state physics, Boer arrived at the University of Delaware in 1962.
     In 1971, he established the University's Institute of Energy
Conversion, which was recently designated as a National Center of
Excellence for Photovoltaic Research and Education by the U.S. Department
of Energy.
     Boer also created SES Inc., a subsidiary of Shell Oil, and was its
chairman and CEO until 1976 and its chief scientist until 1981.
     In 1987, the University established the Karl W. Boer Solar Energy
Medal of Merit in his honor.
     The first recipient of this award was former U.S. President Jimmy
Carter, who received the award in February 1993.
     Boer has received over 38 grants and contracts totaling in excess of
$9 million from industry and government and has over 290 publications and
28 patents to his credit.
     He is founder of Physica Status Solidi, one of the largest
international journals in solid state physics, and serves as editor of
several other journals and numerous conference proceedings, author of
several book chapters and, most recently, the Survey of Semiconductor
Physics, the most comprehensive treatment in the field ever written by a
single author.
     Boer is a fellow of the American Physical Society, a senior member of
the IEEE and served as president of the American Solar Energy Society in
1976 and 1977.
     Boer earned a Ph.D. in physics from Berlin's Humboldt University in
1952.  In 1955 he founded the Division of Dielectric Breakdown at the
German Academy of Science and shortly thereafter the IV Physics Department
at Humboldt University, where he was director and chaired professor.