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Disk technology takes Nobel Prize | Disk technology takes Nobel Prize |
(30 minutes later) | |
French scientist Albert Fert and Peter Grunberg of Germany have won the 2007 Nobel Prize in physics. | French scientist Albert Fert and Peter Grunberg of Germany have won the 2007 Nobel Prize in physics. |
They discovered the phenomenon of "giant magnetoresistance", in which weak magnetic changes give rise to big differences in electrical resistance. | |
This knowledge has allowed the computer industry to develop sensitive reading tools to pull data off hard drives. | |
This has made it possible to radically miniaturise hard disks in recent years. | |
Matin Durrani, editor of Physics World, a journal published by the UK's Institute of Physics, said the award had gone to "something very practically based and rooted in research relevant to industry". | |
"It shows that physics has a real relevance not just to understanding natural phenomena but to real products in everyday life," he added. | |
If GMR is to work, structures consisting of layers that are only a few atoms thick have to be produced. | |
For this reason GMR can also be considered "one of the first real applications of the promising field of nanotechnology", the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said in a statement. | |
"Applications of this phenomenon have revolutionised 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." | |
A hard disk stores information, such as music, in the form of microscopically small areas that are magnetised in different directions. | |
The information is retrieved by a read-out head that scans the disk and registers the magnetic changes. | |
The smaller and more compact the hard disk, the smaller and weaker the individual magnetic areas. | |
More sensitive read-out heads are therefore required if information has to be packed more densely on to a hard disk. | |
Last year, US scientists John C Mather and George F Smoot won for their work examining the infancy of the Universe. | Last year, US scientists John C Mather and George F Smoot won for their work examining the infancy of the Universe. |
They were honoured for their studies into cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB), the "oldest light" in the Universe. | They were honoured for their studies into cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB), the "oldest light" in the Universe. |
The research has aided the understanding of galaxies and stars and increased support for the Big Bang theory of the beginning of the Universe. | The research has aided the understanding of galaxies and stars and increased support for the Big Bang theory of the beginning of the Universe. |