Manchester academics win Nobel Prize in Physics
1 min read
The Nobel Prize in Physics for 2010 has been awarded to Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov from the University of Manchester for their work on developing graphene.
According to the Nobel Prize Committee, Prof Geim and Novoselov had shown that carbon in an extremely thin form had exceptional properties originating in the world of quantum physics.
As a material, graphene is completely new – not only the thinnest ever but also the strongest. As a conductor of electricity, it performs as well as copper. As a conductor of heat, it outperforms all other known materials. It is almost completely transparent, yet so dense that not even helium can pass through it. 'Carbon', said the Nobel Prize Committee, 'the basis of all known life on earth, has surprised us once again'.
Geim and Novoselov extracted graphene from a piece of graphite. Using regular adhesive tape, they managed to obtain a flake of carbon with a thickness of just one atom at a time when many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable.
Novoselov is a Royal Society Research Fellow in the Mesoscopic Research Group at the University of Manchester.
Geim, who became Professor of Physics at the University of Manchester in 2001, is Director of the Manchester Centre for Mesoscience and Nanotechnology. Since 2007 he has been an EPSRC Senior Research Fellow.
