Two EU-funded scientists awarded with Nobel Prize in Physics
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2010 has been jointly awarded to Professor Konstantin Novoselov and Professor Andre Geim of the University of Manchester in the UK. Novoselov and Geim have been awarded this Prize for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene.
Professor Novoselov and his colleague, Professor Andre Geim, have both received the Nobeñ Prize in Physics 2010 for their work on graphene, a super thin (just one atom thick) wafer of carbon atoms that is set to revolutionise electronics and photonics, such as computers, sensors and solar cells.
Professor Novoselov worked in the Netherlands before making his way to the UK. The Russian-born scientist and his team succeeded in clinching EU grants, including funding from the 'New and emerging science and technology' (NEST) Cross-cutting activity of the EU's Sixth Framework Programme and the European Research Council (ERC), to advance their work.
Being awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics is a testament to the hard work carried out by the Professor Novoselov, the youngest Nobel laureate since 1973, and Professor Geim. The prize also puts the spotlight on the steps taken by the EU to promote scientists and their research, as well as cooperation in Europe and beyond.
EU research on graphene
Graphene is unique in that it is extremely rigid with super mechanical and electronic properties. Using Scotch tape (sticky tape), the material was extracted from a piece of graphite like the kind we find in our pencils. Tests show that the stretchy graphene layers are nearly 100% transparent, making them excellent conductors of heat and electricity.
The discovery of graphene proved a vital component of the NEST-funded SIBMAR ('Obtaining atomically resolved structural information on individual biomolecules using electron holography') project, coordinated by the University of Zurich in Switzerland, which received more than EUR 1.5 million under the FP6's NEST scheme and was bolstered by the participation of Professors Geim and Novoselov whose know-how and innovative insight into graphene helped drive this project.
Ever since graphene came under the spotlight, the EU has been a fierce supporter of research in the field, funding more than 40 projects and offering training to researchers. In 2008, a call for research proposals under the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) (Industrial Technologies (NMP) Theme) was launched.
That Europeans are at the forefront of science cannot be contested; they are fostering frontier research in domains as diverse as engineering and materials science. Helping them in their quest to bring their research to fruition is the EU, which offers critical funding and unwavering support to scientists who want to make a difference. The EU Framework Programmes help to facilitate the very components that go into breakthrough science: cooperation and knowledge exchange, and help the continents scientists to achieve amazing results and to stand tall.