# Oliver Steinbock
Oliver Steinbock is a chemist who grew up in Hameln, Germany, and holds the Cottrell Family Professorship of Chemistry at [Florida State University](https://www.edgepedia.org/florida-state-university) (FSU) in Tallahassee, where he joined the faculty in 1998. He is known for research on pattern formation in excitable media (systems that propagate waves after a threshold trigger) and on chemical gardens.[1](https://www.chem.fsu.edu/~steinbock/personalpage.html) • [2](https://ai.fsu.edu/research/oliver-steinbock)
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Field | Chemical self-organization; excitable media; chemobrionics |
| Position | Cottrell Family Professor of Chemistry, Florida State University (from 2012; faculty member from 1998) |
| PhD | Dr. rer. nat. 1993, Georg August University of Göttingen and Max Planck Institute for Molecular Physiology, Dortmund, under Stefan C. Müller |
| Signature work | "Synchronization of Spiral Waves in Active Media by Periodic Modulation of Excitability" (Nature, 1993); two Science papers, 1995 |
| Honors | AAAS Fellow (2010); Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (2012) |
| Recent direction | Machine learning and robotics for chemical analysis from dried drop stains (RODI, almost 99% accuracy) |
## Education and career
Steinbock grew up in Hameln, Germany, and studied physics at Georg August University in [Göttingen](https://www.edgepedia.org/gottingen), completing the Cand.-Phys. degree in 1988 and the Dipl.-Phys. in 1991.[1](https://www.chem.fsu.edu/~steinbock/personalpage.html) He received his Dr. rer. nat. in 1993 from Göttingen and the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Physiology, with the thesis graded summa cum laude.[1](https://www.chem.fsu.edu/~steinbock/personalpage.html)
His postdoctoral and early career positions were at [West Virginia University](https://www.edgepedia.org/west-virginia-university), as a postdoc in the Department of Chemistry from 1993 to 1994 and as a Visiting Assistant Professor from 1994 to 1995; at Florida State University as a Visiting Assistant Professor from 1995 to 1996; and at Otto-von-Guericke University of Magdeburg as a Research Scientist from 1996 to 1998.[1](https://www.chem.fsu.edu/~steinbock/personalpage.html) He joined the FSU faculty in 1998 as Assistant Professor of Chemistry (1998 to 2003), became Associate Professor (2004 to 2007), Professor (2008 to present), and Cottrell Professor in 2012.[1](https://www.chem.fsu.edu/~steinbock/personalpage.html)
## Pattern formation in excitable media
Steinbock's studies of excitation waves in reaction-diffusion systems concern spiral waves, rotating wave patterns that also appear in cardiac tissue and are implicated in arrhythmias.[3](https://www.humboldt-foundation.de/en/connect/explore-the-humboldt-network/singleview/1146988/prof-dr-oliver-steinbock)
Steinbock's 1993 Nature paper, "Synchronization of Spiral Waves in Active Media by Periodic Modulation of Excitability", showed that periodically modulating a medium's excitability can synchronize spiral-wave dynamics.[4](https://www.chem.fsu.edu/~steinbock/publications.html) In 1995 he published two Science papers. "Navigating Complex Labyrinths: Optimal Paths from Chemical Waves" showed that chemical waves can compute optimal paths through a maze-like geometry. "Anisotropy and Spiral Organizing Centers in Patterned Excitable Media" examined how patterning the medium produces anisotropy and spiral organizing centers.[4](https://www.chem.fsu.edu/~steinbock/publications.html)
The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation describes Steinbock as internationally renowned for studies of chemical self-organization and emergent phenomena in nonequilibrium systems, with contributions to excitation waves in reaction-diffusion systems and reaction-induced self-assembly, with implications for cell communication and cardiac arrhythmia.[3](https://www.humboldt-foundation.de/en/connect/explore-the-humboldt-network/singleview/1146988/prof-dr-oliver-steinbock)
## Representative work
- "Synchronization of Spiral Waves in Active Media by Periodic Modulation of Excitability", *Nature* 366, 322–324 (1993).
- "Navigating Complex Labyrinths: Optimal Paths from Chemical Waves", *Science* 267, 868–871 (1995).
- "Anisotropy and Spiral Organizing Centers in Patterned Excitable Media", *Science* 269, 1857–1860 (1995).[4](https://www.chem.fsu.edu/~steinbock/publications.html)
## Honors and recognition
Steinbock is a Fellow of the [American Association for the Advancement of Science](https://www.edgepedia.org/american-association-for-the-advancement-of-science) (2010) and received the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in 2012.[1](https://www.chem.fsu.edu/~steinbock/personalpage.html) The Humboldt Foundation records the award under the 2012 Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award Programme, sponsored from 1 August 2012 by the Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-[Organization](https://www.edgepedia.org/organization) in Göttingen; his research plan in Germany concerned cell motion and the dynamical causes of ventricular fibrillation.[3](https://www.humboldt-foundation.de/en/connect/explore-the-humboldt-network/singleview/1146988/prof-dr-oliver-steinbock) Earlier, he was a Liebig Fellow of the Foundation of the German Chemical Industry from 1994 to 1996 and a PhD scholar of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes from 1992 to 1993.[1](https://www.chem.fsu.edu/~steinbock/personalpage.html)
## Recent work
Steinbock's group has continued work on chemical self-organization, and a further line of work applies machine learning and robotics to chemical analysis. FSU chemists created a machine learning tool that identifies the chemical composition of dried salt solutions from an image with about 80% accuracy, published in Digital Discovery.[5](https://artsandsciences.fsu.edu/article/democratizing-chemical-analysis-fsu-chemists-use-machine-learning-and-robotics-identify) According to FSU, the team's Robotic Drop Imager (RODI) prepares more than 2,000 samples per day, enabling a library of more than 23,000 images and raising accuracy from around 90% to almost 99%, with NASA support.[5](https://artsandsciences.fsu.edu/article/democratizing-chemical-analysis-fsu-chemists-use-machine-learning-and-robotics-identify) Steinbock's NASA and NSF-funded AI research develops photo-based methods for the compositional identification of chemical compounds.[2](https://ai.fsu.edu/research/oliver-steinbock) The NSF lists him at Florida State University as principal investigator of an active I-Corps Teams award, "I-Corps: Translation Potential of Compositional Analyses from Dried Drop Stains".[6](https://nsf.elsevierpure.com/en/persons/oliver-steinbock/)
## References
1. [Steinbock Group, Personal Page / CV](https://www.chem.fsu.edu/~steinbock/personalpage.html)
2. [Oliver Steinbock, PhD, FSU Artificial Intelligence Institute](https://ai.fsu.edu/research/oliver-steinbock)
3. [Prof. Dr. Oliver Steinbock, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation](https://www.humboldt-foundation.de/en/connect/explore-the-humboldt-network/singleview/1146988/prof-dr-oliver-steinbock)
4. [Steinbock Group, Publications](https://www.chem.fsu.edu/~steinbock/publications.html)
5. ['Democratizing chemical analysis': FSU chemists use machine learning and robotics to identify chemical compositions from images](https://artsandsciences.fsu.edu/article/democratizing-chemical-analysis-fsu-chemists-use-machine-learning-and-robotics-identify)
6. [Oliver Steinbock, National Science Foundation award record (Pure portal)](https://nsf.elsevierpure.com/en/persons/oliver-steinbock/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Technology and the built world › Engineers and computer scientists › Computer scientists and AI researchers*
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