Quate is known for his work on acoustic and atomic force microscopy. The
scanning acoustic microscope, which Quate invented with colleague R. A. Lemons in 1973, has resolution exceeding optical microscopes, revealing structure in opaque or even transparent materials not visible to optics. In 1981, Quate read about a new type of microscope able to examine electrically conductive materials. Together with
Gerd Binnig and
Christoph Gerber, he developed a related instrument that would work on non-conductive materials, including biological tissue, and the
atomic force microscope was born. AFM traces surface contours using a needle to maintain constant pressure against the surface to reveal atomic detail. AFM is the foundation of the $100 million nanotechnology industry. Binnig, Quate and Gerber were rewarded with the
Kavli Prize in 2016 for developing the atomic force microscope. Quate was a member of the
National Academy of Engineering and
National Academy of Sciences, having been elected to the former for his contributions to "research, teaching, and management in microwave and solid-state electronics." He was awarded the 1980
IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Memorial Award and the
IEEE Medal of Honor in 1988 for "the invention and development of the scanning acoustic microscope." Quate became a senior research fellow at the
Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) in 1984. Quate died on July 6, 2019, at the age of 95. ==References==