Geim awarded €750K Körber prize for discovery of graphene

Physicist Andre Geim of Manchester University was awarded the annual €750,000 Körber Foundation European Science award for the discovery of graphene, in a ceremony at Hamburg City Hall on Friday, April 17.

In its citation, the Foundation said graphene is a “miracle material” with the potential to revolutionise microelectronics. The Körber European Science Award supports European scientists who are pursuing innovative research projects. “These graphenes not only promise to revolutionise semiconductor, sensor, and display technology, but also lead us to expect breakthroughs in basic research in quantum physics,” according to the Foundation.

Graphenes consist of a single layer of individual, densely packed carbon atoms that are woven into one stable layer like a wire mesh. In the world of atoms, nothing can be flatter. Among other things, Geim has succeeded in using graphene to develop prototypes of tiny transistors. They are some 10 times smaller than the smallest of the traditional prototypes. In the not all too distant future, graphene transistors could replace transistors made of silicon.

Geim was born in Russia in 1958 to German parents. He studied physics in Moscow and was awarded his PhD by the Institute for Solid State Physics in Chernogolovka, Russia, in 1987. After working there for another 3 years, he conducted research in the United Kingdom and Denmark. In 1994, he was appointed Associate Professor at the University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands. In 2001 he moved to Manchester, where he is professor of physics.

The Körber European Science Award is presented annually to scientists working in Europe for outstanding scientific achievements and in particular for future-looking research projects. An international trustee committee under the chairmanship of the president of the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, Peter Gruss, decides on the award. Among its winners are the Nobel laureates for medicine Luc Montagnier and Françoise Barré-Sinoussi.