VARIOUS: German and French scientists jointly win 2007 Nobel Prize for physics

Record ID: 491932

  • Title: VARIOUS: German and French scientists jointly win 2007 Nobel Prize for physics
  • Date: 10th October 2007
  • Summary: (BN10) STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN (OCTOBER 9, 2007) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF THE ROYAL SWEDISH ACADEMY OF SCIENCE SIGN
  • Embargoed: 25th October 2007 13:00
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  • Topics: Science / Technology
  • Reuters ID: LVA7KI78Q7AIKEIDEAQ0EOPNLU4H
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  • Story Text: France's Albert Fert and Germany's Peter Gruenberg win the 2007 Nobel Prize for physics for discoveries allowing the miniaturisation of hard disks in electronic devices from laptops to iPods.
    The 10 million Swedish crown (1.54 million U.S. dollars) prize, awarded by The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, recognised the discovery by Fert, 69, and Gruenberg, 68, of giant magnetoresistance, which has helped revolutionise computer data storage and retrieval.
    "This year's Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded for a groundbreaking discovery concerning the influence of magnetism on electrical activity and the Royal Swedish Academy of Science had decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics for the year 2007 jointly to Professor Albert Fert of the Universite de Sud in France in France and Professor Peter Gruenberg at the Forschungs Centre in Juelich in Germany. The Academy's citation runs 'for the discovery of giant magnetoresistance," said Chairman of the Royal Swedish Academy, Gunnar Oequist at a news conference in Sweden.
    The two scientists' work made it possible to produce technology capable of converting tiny magnetic changes into differences in electrical resistance.
    Harnessing these tiny magnetic changes -- dubbed spintronics -- made it possible to pack much more data onto hard disks and the development of handheld devices such as mobile phones or music players.
    Fert and Gruenberg made their discovery independently of each other and in Paris Fert said he was happy to share the prize with his colleague.
    "I'm very happy, I'm very happy for the both of us. For him and myself. And maybe for other researchers who did almost the same thing, who don't have it, I'm sad for them", he said while surrounded by journalists.
    Fert then confirmed he would be meeting his fellow winner next week to receive another award.
    "We are going to meet, we are going to meet next week in London for another award from the magazine The Economist" said Fert.
    As Nobel physics laureates, Fert and Gruenberg join the ranks of some of the greatest names in science, such as Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Niels Bohr and Wilhelm Rontgen -- who won the first prize in 1901 for his discovery of X-rays.
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