Nobel Prize in Physics 2010

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2010 honors two physicist Andre K. Geim and Konstantin S. Novoselov from University of Manchester, UK for “groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene”. 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.
Graphene is a single atomic layer of carbon which has number of unique properties making it interesting for both fundamental study and possible future applications in nanotechnology. Graphene is very stretchable and stronger than steel and the electrical and thermal conductivity of this single layer carbon is even better than good conductor such as copper. One of the remarkable properties of graphene is that Quantum Hall effect has been observed at room temperature.
They used Scotch tape to repeatedly split graphite crystals into increasingly thinner pieces. The tape with attached optically transparent flakes was dissolved in acetone and, after a few further steps, the flakes including monolayers were sedimented on a silicon wafer. Geim and Novoselov published their results in Science in 2004.

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