Born in Munich, Rudolf moved to Italy to complete high school and to receive her MSc degree in physics at the Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. Following, she worked at the National Surface Science Laboratory in Trieste for five years, interrupted two times to work on the newly discovered fullerenes at Bell Labs, USA. In 1995, she received her PhD in physics under the supervision of Roland Caudano at Facultés Universitaires Notre-Dame de la Paix, Namur, Belgium. After several research positions in Namur, she became professor in Experimental Solid State Physics at the University of Groningen in 2003. In addition to her research, Rudolf also has been active in spreading knowledge on how unconscious biases impact careers in science, and how to mitigate that influence through advocating positive action programs. Efforts by Rudolf and colleagues have been pivotal in installing the Rosalind Franklin Fellowship program at University of Groningen, which has been recognized by the 2018 Diversity Award from The Netherlands Physics Association.
Research
Petra Rudolf's research focuses on surface physics of organic thin films, molecular motors, nanocomposites, as well as 2D materials, to gain a better understanding of the physical phenomena that they display and for potential technological innovations. Rudolf's expertise has been on the application of various surface sensitive spectroscopic measurement techniques to study the various materials systems. While these techniques have been used by Rudolf and her group to study a wide variety of materials, Rudolf has always maintained a special interest in graphene-based materials and, more recently, also in 2D materials. Graphene-based materials have great potential in revolutionizing today's electronics industry and making it more sustainable, and Rudolf's lab has contributed successfully to finding better ways to produce 2D materials. More recently, Rudolf has also been devoted to developing pillared graphene materials for spintronics and hydrogen storage applications. Her interests span much further than carbon-based materials however, with recent successes with germanane-based and other materials which show promising devices and catalysis applications. As of 2019, Rudolf's work on synthetic molecular switches and molecular machines for the production of functional surfaces, in collaboration with renowned colleagues, such as Ben Feringa, is also ongoing.
