2007 Nobel Prize
in Physics
Albert Fert of France and German Peter Gruenberg won the 2007
Nobel Prize in physics on Tuesday for a discovery that lets billions of
computer users store reams of data on computer hard drives.
The technology
"can also be considered one of the first real applications of the
promising field of nanotechnology," which deals with extremely small
devices, the
"Applications
of this phenomenon have revolutionized techniques for retrieving data from hard
disks," the prize citation said. "The discovery also plays a major
role in various magnetic sensors as well as for the development of a new
generation of electronics."
In 1988 Fert and Gruenberg each independently discovered a physical
effect called giant magnetoresistance. In this
effect, very weak changes in magnetism generate larger changes in electrical
resistance. This is how information stored magnetically on a hard disk can be
converted to electrical signals that the computer reads.
(Source: Washington Post)