Noble_Prize_2010

Winner of 2010 Nobel Physics prize also won the spoof Ig Nobel Yoshita Singh Boston, Oct 8 (PTI) Russian-born scientist Andre Geim, the 2010 winner of the Nobel Prize for physics, also has the distinction of winning a different kind of Nobel award - the Ig Nobel - an American parody of the prestigious prizes, for making a frog float in the air using magnets. Geim had won the Ig Nobel in 2000 from the Cambridge-based magazine Annals of Improbable Research for making a frog levitate by using a magnetic toy. The Ig Nobels, which are Harvard''s humourous take on the more famous and serious Nobel awards, honour achievements that "first make people laugh, and then make them think". A physicist at the University of Manchester in England, Geim is the first scientist to win both the Nobel and the Ig Nobel prizes. Geim said he is "actually quite proud of his Ig Nobel Prize," according to his interview with Improbable Research. He, however, added that he was not sure if he would display both the awards together in his office since "the Ig Nobel Prize is not really something... visually attractive". "Essentially, Ig Nobel Prize is given for something which forces people to smile. And, that was always the idea behind the flying frog. And... with Nobel Prize, it is quite obvious that, if you are offered, I am not aware about anyone who rejected an offer of Nobel Prize," Improbable Research quoted him as saying on its website. At the 2000 Ig Nobel award ceremony, Geim had told the audience that levitating a frog had led to lots of requests, including one from the leader of a small religious group in England, "who offered us a million pounds if we could levitate him in front of his congregation to improve his public relations, apparently". The real point behind the frog experiment was to demonstrate a phenomenon called diamagnetism. Diamagnetic materials like water are pushed away by magnetic fields, so a really powerful magnetic field can hold up a frog, which is mostly water. Geim had shared his Ig Nobel award with Sir Michael Berry. He shared the 2010 Nobel Prize for physics with fellow scientist Konstantin Novoselov for experiments with a super-thin carbon matter Graphene. Annals of Improbable Research has awarded the annual Ig Nobel prizes since 1991 "to celebrate the unusual, honour the imaginative � and spur people''s interest in science, medicine, and technology." . |[pic] |English | | |English (pdf) | | | | | |Swedish | | |Swedish (pdf) | | | | | |Russian (pdf) | | | |   Press Release 5 October 2010 The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2010 to Andre Geim University of Manchester, UK and Konstantin Novoselov University of Manchester, UK "for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene"   Graphene – the perfect atomic lattice A thin flake of ordinary carbon, just one atom thick, lies behind this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics. Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov have shown that carbon in such a flat form has exceptional properties that originate from the remarkable world of quantum physics. Graphene is a form of carbon. As a material it 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, the smallest gas atom, can pass through it. Carbon, the basis of all known life on earth, has surprised us once again. Geim and Novoselov extracted the graphene from a piece of graphite such as is found in ordinary pencils. Using regular adhesive tape they managed to obtain a flake of carbon with a thickness of just one atom. This at a time when many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. However, with graphene, physicists can now study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties. Graphene makes experiments possible that give new twists to the phenomena in quantum physics. Also a vast variety of practical applications now appear possible including the creation of new materials and the manufacture of innovative electronics. Graphene transistors are predicted to be substantially faster than today’s silicon transistors and result in more efficient computers. Since it is practically transparent and a good conductor, graphene is suitable for producing transparent touch screens, light panels, and maybe even solar cells. When mixed into plastics, graphene can turn them into conductors of electricity while making them more heat resistant and mechanically robust. This resilience can be utilised in new super strong materials, which are also thin, elastic and lightweight. In the future, satellites, airplanes, and cars could be manufactured out of the new composite materials. This year’s Laureates have been working together for a long time now. Konstantin Novoselov, 36, first worked with Andre Geim, 51, as a PhD-student in the Netherlands. He subsequently followed Geim to the United Kingdom. Both of them originally studied and began their careers as physicists in Russia. Now they are both professors at the University of Manchester. Playfulness is one of their hallmarks, one always learns something in the process and, who knows, you may even hit the jackpot. Like now when they, with graphene, write themselves into the annals of science. |Read more about this year's prize | |Information for the Public | |Scientific Background | |Pdf 1 MB | |In order to read the text you need Acrobat Reader. | |Links and Further Reading | [pic] Andre Geim, Dutch citizen. Born 1958 in Sochi, Russia. Ph.D. 1987 from Institute of Solid State Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Chernogolovka, Russia. Director of Manchester Centre for Meso-science & Nanotechnology, Langworthy Professor of Physics and Royal Society 2010 Anniversary Research Professor, University of Manchester, UK. www.condmat.physics.manchester.ac.uk/people/academic/geim Konstantin Novoselov, British and Russian citizen. Born 1974 in Nizhny Tagil, Russia. Ph.D. 2004 from Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Professor and Royal Society Research Fellow, University of Manchester, UK. www.condmat.physics.manchester.ac.uk/people/academic/novoselov Prize amount: SEK 10 million to be shared equally between the Nobel Laureates. Contact persons: Erik Huss, Press Officer, Phone +46 8 673 95 44, mobile +46 70 673 96 50, erik.huss@kva.se Fredrik All, Editor, Phone +46 8 673 95 63, Mobile +46 70 673 95 63, fredrik.all@kva.se The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, founded in 1739, is an independent organization whose overall objective is to promote the sciences and strengthen their influence in society. The Academy takes special responsibility for the natural sciences and mathematics, but endeavours to promote the exchange of ideas between various disciplines. [pic] [pic]