Albert Fert
Facts
© The Nobel Foundation. Photo: U. Montan
Albert Fert
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2007
Born: 7 March 1938, Carcassonne, France
Affiliation at the time of the award: Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France; Unité Mixte de Physique CNRS/THALES, Orsay, France
Prize motivation: “for the discovery of Giant Magnetoresistance”
Prize share: 1/2
Work
When materials are reduced to just a few atomic layers—a few nanometers in thickness—their properties change. Independently of one another, Albert Fert and Peter Grünberg discovered the phenomenon Giant Magneto Resistance (GMR) in 1988. GMR involves small changes in magnetic fields creating major differences in electrical resistance. It has also had an impact on electronics, especially read heads, where information stored magnetically is converted to electric current. Thanks to GMR, hard drives have become much smaller.
Nobel Prizes and laureates
Six prizes were awarded for achievements that have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind. The 12 laureates' work and discoveries range from proteins' structures and machine learning to fighting for a world free of nuclear weapons.
See them all presented here.
