Born in Haren, Groningen in 1959, Dekker studied at University of Utrecht, where he received a PhD in Experimental Physics in 1988.

In the mid-1990s Dekker and his team achieved success with the discovery of the electronic properties of carbon nanotubes, the first single-molecule transistor and other nanoscience.

STM and nanolithography techniques were used to demonstrate that these nanotubes are quantum wires at the single-molecule level, with outstanding physical properties.

Since 2000, Dekker has shifted the main focus of his work towards biophysics where he studies the properties of single biomolecules and cells using the tools of nanotechnology.

[5] Current lines of research in his biophysics group are in the areas of:[6] Source:[5][6] Dekker is a Christian and active in the discussion about the relationship between science and religion, a topic on which he has co-edited several books.

He wrote the foreword to the Dutch translation of ‘The Language of God' by Francis Collins, the former director of the National Institutes of Health.

[16] He also co-wrote 'Dawn: A Proton's Tale of All That Came to Be',[17] a book that combines the scientific narrative about the evolution of the cosmos with the Christian creation story.