Georg Gärtner received the degrees of Dipl.-Physiker in 1973 and Dr. rer. nat. in 1977 from the Johannes-Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany. There he was involved in high-resolution spectroscopy of stored electrons and ions, especially in the first direct determination of the proton-electron mass-ratio. In 1978 he worked as a research associate in the Atomic physics group at Texas A&M University in the same field. In 1979 he joined Philips Research Laboratories in Aachen, Germany. There his main focuses were chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and laser ablation deposition (LAD) of thin solid films and ultrafine particles, mainly for preparation and characterization of high-power cathodes. The types of thermionic cathodes he investigated were thoriated tungsten, Ba dispenser cathodes and Ba.oxide cathodes. Since 1995 he and his coworkers have held the world record in thermionic emission, which they achieved with LAD top-layer Scandate cathodes. He also helped to develop the successful oxide plus (cermet) cathode of LG.Philips Displays. In 2004 he became visiting professor of Southeast University Nanjing. At Philips he worked on dielectric barrier discharge lamps and on OLEDs (organic light-emitting diodes). He retired in 2014 and is still active as a consultant in the field of vacuum electronics.

He has authored more than 100 publications and designed 102 inventions, leading to more than 50 patents (US, WO, EU, D). He is a member of the "Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft" and the "American Vacuum Society" and acted as coordinator of the European section of IVESC (International Vacuum Electron Sources Conference) for 14 years.