Michael D. Fayer

Michael David Fayer (born September 12, 1947) is an American chemical physicist. He is the David Mulvane Ehrsam and Edward Curtis Franklin Professor of Chemistry at Stanford University

Education and academic career He attended the University of California, Berkeley, for both undergraduate and graduate school. He received his Ph.D. in chemistry in 1974 under the supervision of Professor Charles B. Harris. Fayer began his academic career at Stanford University as an assistant professor in 1974.

Research Fayer pioneered and launched a fundamental transformation of how the dynamics and dynamical interactions of complex molecular systems are investigated. The multiple experimental approaches he initiated have changed the manner in which chemists, biologist, molecular physicists, and materials scientist interrogate key aspects of nature.

By the early 1970s, just as Fayer was beginning his career, advances in laser technology were occurring to make pulses of light that were short enough to get to the time scales of molecular motions.

A 1982 recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, Fayer has been honored with several awards from American Physical Society including the 2000 Earle K. Plyler Prize for Molecular Spectroscopy “For the development of optical and infrared ultrafast spectroscopic methods, and especially for experiments using these methods to measure dynamical processes in condensed phase systems.” and the 2012 Arthur L. Schawlow Prize in Laser Science “For seminal contributions to laser science in the development of ultrafast nonlinear and multidimensional vibrational spectroscopy.” Fayer is the recipient of the 2007 E. Bright Wilson Award in Spectroscopy by American Chemical Society "For his seminal contributions to the understanding of dynamics and excitation transport in complex condensed matter systems, through his development of ultrafast nonlinear laser spectroscopy, transient grating, and infrared photon echo techniques." He received the 2009 Ellis R. Lippincott Award by Optical Society of America “For seminal contributions to the understanding of the dynamics and interactions in liquids through development and applications of ultrafast nonlinear vibrational experimental methods and spectroscopy.” Fayer was also announced to be the recipient of the 2014 Ahmed Zewail Award in Ultrafast Science and Technology “For the development of coherent infrared spectroscopy and its applications to measurements of ultrafast dynamics in complex molecular systems.” He is also the 2022 recipient of the William F. Meggers Award from Optica and an Optica Fellow.

Scientific education In addition to his scientific research, Fayer has devoted a great deal of energy to advancing scientific education. He has written two books on quantum theory, one for teaching at the graduate level and one for laymen. His graduate quantum mechanics book, Elements of Quantum Mechanics, Oxford University Press, 2000, is an advanced introduction to quantum theory.

Fayer's book, Absolutely Small – How Quantum Theory Explains Our Everyday World, AMACOM, 2010, is a rigorous introduction to the concepts of quantum mechanics and its application to the molecular and atomic systems that are all around us, but with no math. The book is popular among non-scientists who are interested in science as well as scientists who are not in the field of molecular physics and want a conceptual understanding of quantum theory without getting bogged down with countless equations.

Personal life Fayer has been married to Terry Fayer for well over forty years, and he has two children, Victoria and William.