Andre Geim (pictured) and Konstantin Novoselov won the 2010 Nobel Physics Prize for their work with graphene - the thinnest and strongest nano-material in the world.
Credit: AFP
STOCKHOLM: Two Russian-born scientists, Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov, won the 2010 Nobel Physics Prize for pioneering work on graphene, touted as the wonder material of the 21st century.
Both laureates began their careers as physicists in Russia but now work at the University of Manchester in Britain. Geim holds Dutch nationality and Novoselov is both a British and Russian national.
The Swedish Academy of Sciences hailed graphene, a form of carbon developed only six years ago, for its glittering potential in computers, home gadgets and transport.
World’s thinnest and strongest nano-material
It lauded Geim, 51, and Novoselov, 36, for having "shown that carbon in such a flat form has exceptional properties that originate from the remarkable world of quantum physics."
Just one atom thick, it is the world's thinnest and strongest nano-material, almost transparent and able to conduct electricity and heat.
As a result, graphene is described as the candidate material to replace silicon semi-conductors.
Super-strong touch screens and solar cells
Graphene transistors would in theory be able to run at faster speeds and cope with higher temperatures than today's classic computer chips.
That would resolve a fast-growing problem facing chip engineers who want to boost power and shrink semiconductor size but without raising temperatures, the bugbear of computing.
Its transparency means it could potentially be used in touch screens and even solar cells, and when mixed with plastics would provide light but super-strong composite materials for next-generation satellites, planes and cars.
Levitating frogs make research fun
The Nobel jury acknowledged that most of the practical applications of graphene - developed at the University of Manchester in 2004 - "exist only in our fantasies, but many are already being tested."
The committee added the laureates believed research should be fun. For instance, Geim managed in 1997 to make a frog levitate in a magnetic field, the jury said, calling it "an ingenious way of illustrating the principles of physics."
