Andre Geim
Encyclopedia
Andre Konstantin Geim, FRS
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...

  is a Dutch-Russian-British physicist
Physicist
A physicist is a scientist who studies or practices physics. Physicists study a wide range of physical phenomena in many branches of physics spanning all length scales: from sub-atomic particles of which all ordinary matter is made to the behavior of the material Universe as a whole...

 working at the University of Manchester. Geim was awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics
Nobel Prize in Physics
The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...

 jointly with Konstantin Novoselov
Konstantin Novoselov
Konstantin Sergeevich Novoselov FRS is a Russo-British physicist, most notably known for his works on graphene together with Andre Geim, which earned them the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010. Novoselov is currently a member of the mesoscopic physics research group at the University of Manchester as...

 for his work on graphene
Graphene
Graphene is an allotrope of carbon, whose structure is one-atom-thick planar sheets of sp2-bonded carbon atoms that are densely packed in a honeycomb crystal lattice. The term graphene was coined as a combination of graphite and the suffix -ene by Hanns-Peter Boehm, who described single-layer...

. He is the Langworthy Professor
Langworthy Professor
The Langworthy Professor is the holder of an endowed chair at in the School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester. It was founded by a bequest of £10,000 for the purpose of endowing a professorship of experimental physics by E. R. Langworthy in 1874...

 and director of the Manchester Centre for Mesoscience and Nanotechnology
Manchester Centre for Mesoscience and Nanotechnology
The Manchester Centre for Mesoscience and Nanotechnology is a centre for interdisciplinary research headed by Professor Andre Geim at the University of Manchester. The purpose of the centre is to allow researchers to construct devices from a few microns down to 10 nm in size. It was opened by...

 at the University of Manchester
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...

.

Early years

Andre Geim was born to Konstantin Alekseyevich Geim and Nina Nikolayevna Bayer on October 21, 1958. Both his parents were Russian German engineers. Geim has stated, "My mother's grandmother was Jewish. I suffered from anti-Semitism in Russia
Antisemitism in the Soviet Union
The Russian Revolution overthrew a centuries-old regime of official antisemitism. The Soviet Unions success, during its existence, in struggling with this legacy, and the degree to which its government fought against, or was itself guilty of antisemitism, is a topic of some debate...

 because my name sounds Jewish". Geim has one brother, Vladislav. In 1965, the family moved to Nalchik
Nalchik
Nalchik is the capital city of the Kabardino-Balkar Republic, Russia, situated at an altitude of in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains; about northwest of Beslan in the Republic of North Ossetia–Alania. It covers an area of...

, where he studied at an English-language high school. After graduation, he applied to the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute
Moscow Engineering Physics Institute
National Research Nuclear University MEPhI / NRNU MEPhI, NIYaU MEPhI or MEPhI) is one of the most recognized technical universities in Russia. MEPhI was founded in 1942 as the Moscow Mechanical Institute of Munitions , but it was soon renamed the Moscow Mechanical Institute. Its original mission...

. He took the entrance exams twice, but was not accepted. He then applied to the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), where he was accepted. He said the students had to work extremely hard: "The pressure to work and to study was so intense that it was not a rare thing for people to break and leave, and some of them ended up with everything from schizophrenia to depression to suicide." He received an MSc in 1982, and in 1987 obtained a PhD in metal physics from the Institute of Solid State Physics
Institute of Solid State Physics
Institute of Solid State Physics is one of the physical institutes at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Created by Decree No 362 in October 16, 1972 by the Ministry Council of Bulgaria it is successor of the Institute of Physics with Atomic Scientific Experimental Center at the Bulgarian Academy...

 (ISSP) at the Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Academy of Sciences
The Russian Academy of Sciences consists of the national academy of Russia and a network of scientific research institutes from across the Russian Federation as well as auxiliary scientific and social units like libraries, publishers and hospitals....

 (RAS) in Chernogolovka
Chernogolovka
Chernogolovka is a town in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located northeast from Moscow border. Population: Chernogolovka does not have a rail link but long distance buses link the town to Moscow, Noginsk and Fryanovo.-Research facilities:...

. He said that at the time he would not have chosen to study solid-state physics
Solid-state physics
Solid-state physics is the study of rigid matter, or solids, through methods such as quantum mechanics, crystallography, electromagnetism, and metallurgy. It is the largest branch of condensed matter physics. Solid-state physics studies how the large-scale properties of solid materials result from...

, preferring particle physics or astrophysics, but is now happy with his choice.

Academic career

After earning his PhD, Geim worked as a research scientist at the Institute for Microelectronics Technology (IMT) at RAS, and from 1990 as a post-doctoral fellow at the universities of Nottingham
University of Nottingham
The University of Nottingham is a public research university based in Nottingham, United Kingdom, with further campuses in Ningbo, China and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia...

 (twice), Bath
University of Bath
The University of Bath is a campus university located in Bath, United Kingdom. It received its Royal Charter in 1966....

, and Copenhagen
University of Copenhagen
The University of Copenhagen is the oldest and largest university and research institution in Denmark. Founded in 1479, it has more than 37,000 students, the majority of whom are female , and more than 7,000 employees. The university has several campuses located in and around Copenhagen, with the...

. He said that while at Nottingham he could spend his time on research rather than have to deal with politics, and determined to leave Russia.

He obtained his first tenured position in 1994, when he was appointed associate professor at Radboud University Nijmegen
Radboud University Nijmegen
Radboud University Nijmegen is a public university with a strong focus on research in Nijmegen, the Netherlands...

, where he did work on mesoscopic
Mesoscopic physics
Mesoscopic physics is a sub-discipline of condensed matter physics which deals with materials of an intermediate length scale. The scale of such materials can be described as being between the size of a quantity of atoms and of materials measuring micrometres. The lower limit can also be defined...

 superconductivity
Superconductivity
Superconductivity is a phenomenon of exactly zero electrical resistance occurring in certain materials below a characteristic temperature. It was discovered by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes on April 8, 1911 in Leiden. Like ferromagnetism and atomic spectral lines, superconductivity is a quantum...

. He later gained Dutch citizenship. One of his doctoral students at Nijmegen was Konstantin Novoselov
Konstantin Novoselov
Konstantin Sergeevich Novoselov FRS is a Russo-British physicist, most notably known for his works on graphene together with Andre Geim, which earned them the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010. Novoselov is currently a member of the mesoscopic physics research group at the University of Manchester as...

, who went on to become his main research partner.

In 2001 he became a professor of physics at the University of Manchester
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...

, and was appointed director of the Manchester Centre for Mesoscience and Nanotechnology in 2002, and Langworthy Professor
Langworthy Professor
The Langworthy Professor is the holder of an endowed chair at in the School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester. It was founded by a bequest of £10,000 for the purpose of endowing a professorship of experimental physics by E. R. Langworthy in 1874...

 in 2007. Geim's wife and his long-standing co-author, Irina Grigorieva, also moved to Manchester as a lecturer. Later they were joined by Novoselov. Since 2007 he has been an EPSRC Senior Research Fellow.

In 2010 Radboud University Nijmegen appointed him professor of innovative materials and nanoscience.

Research

Geim's achievements include the discovery of a simple method for isolating single atomic layers of graphite, known as graphene
Graphene
Graphene is an allotrope of carbon, whose structure is one-atom-thick planar sheets of sp2-bonded carbon atoms that are densely packed in a honeycomb crystal lattice. The term graphene was coined as a combination of graphite and the suffix -ene by Hanns-Peter Boehm, who described single-layer...

, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Manchester and IMT. The team published their findings in October 2004 in Science
Science (journal)
Science is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is one of the world's top scientific journals....

.

Graphene consists of one-atom-thick layers of carbon atom
Carbon
Carbon is the chemical element with symbol C and atomic number 6. As a member of group 14 on the periodic table, it is nonmetallic and tetravalent—making four electrons available to form covalent chemical bonds...

s arranged in two-dimensional hexagons, and is the thinnest material in the world, as well as one of the strongest and hardest. The material has many potential applications and is considered a superior alternative to silicon
Silicon
Silicon is a chemical element with the symbol Si and atomic number 14. A tetravalent metalloid, it is less reactive than its chemical analog carbon, the nonmetal directly above it in the periodic table, but more reactive than germanium, the metalloid directly below it in the table...

.

Geim said one of the first applications of graphene could be in the development of flexible touchscreen
Touchscreen
A touchscreen is an electronic visual display that can detect the presence and location of a touch within the display area. The term generally refers to touching the display of the device with a finger or hand. Touchscreens can also sense other passive objects, such as a stylus...

s, and that he has not patented the material because he would need a specific application and an industrial partner.
Geim was involved in the development of a biomimetic
Bionics
Bionics is the application of biological methods and systems found in nature to the study and design of engineering systems and modern technology.The word bionic was coined by Jack E...

 adhesive which became known as gecko tape
Gecko tape
Gecko tape is a new material still at the development stage. Directional adhesion refers to the ability of an adhesive material to grip a load in one direction and to release its grip when the direction is reversed....

—so called because of the adhesiveness of gecko
Gecko
Geckos are lizards belonging to the infraorder Gekkota, found in warm climates throughout the world. They range from 1.6 cm to 60 cm....

 feet—research of which is still in the early stages. It is hoped that the development will eventually allow humans to scale ceilings, like Spider-Man
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a fictional Marvel Comics superhero. The character was created by writer-editor Stan Lee and writer-artist Steve Ditko. He first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15...

.

Geim's research into diamagnetic levitation resulted in a famous experiment in 1997 in which a frog was levitated. He has also done research on mesoscopic physics
Mesoscopic physics
Mesoscopic physics is a sub-discipline of condensed matter physics which deals with materials of an intermediate length scale. The scale of such materials can be described as being between the size of a quantity of atoms and of materials measuring micrometres. The lower limit can also be defined...

 and superconductivity
Superconductivity
Superconductivity is a phenomenon of exactly zero electrical resistance occurring in certain materials below a characteristic temperature. It was discovered by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes on April 8, 1911 in Leiden. Like ferromagnetism and atomic spectral lines, superconductivity is a quantum...

.

He said of the range of subjects he has studied: "Many people chose a subject for their PhD and then continue the same subject until they retire. I despise this approach. I have changed my subject five times before I got my first tenured position and that helped me to learn different subjects."

He named his favourite hamster, H.A.M.S. ter Tisha, co-author in a 2001 research paper.

Honours and awards

Geim shared the 2000 Ig Nobel Prize
Ig Nobel Prize
The Ig Nobel Prizes are an American parody of the Nobel Prizes and are given each year in early October for ten unusual or trivial achievements in scientific research. The stated aim of the prizes is to "first make people laugh, and then make them think"...

 in physics with Michael Berry for the frog experiment. In 2006 he appeared on the Scientific American
Scientific American
Scientific American is a popular science magazine. It is notable for its long history of presenting science monthly to an educated but not necessarily scientific public, through its careful attention to the clarity of its text as well as the quality of its specially commissioned color graphics...

50. The Institute of Physics
Institute of Physics
The Institute of Physics is a scientific charity devoted to increasing the practice, understanding and application of physics. It has a worldwide membership of around 40,000....

 awarded him the 2007 Mott Medal and Prize "for his discovery of a new class of materials—free-standing two-dimensional crystals—in particular graphene". In 2007 he was also elected a fellow of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...

.

He shared the 2008 EuroPhysics Prize with Novoselov "for discovering and isolating a single free-standing atomic layer of carbon (graphene) and elucidating its remarkable electronic properties". In 2009 he received the Körber European Science Award
Körber European Science Award
The Körber European Science Prize is presented annually by the Körber Foundation in Hamburg honoring outstanding scientists working in Europe for their promising research projects...

. The United States National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...

 honoured him with the 2010 John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science "for his experimental realisation and investigation of graphene, the two-dimensional form of carbon". He was awarded one of six Royal Society 2010 Anniversary Research Professorships. The Royal Society added its 2010 Hughes Medal
Hughes Medal
The Hughes Medal is awarded by the Royal Society of London "in recognition of an original discovery in the physical sciences, particularly electricity and magnetism or their applications". Named after David E. Hughes, the medal is awarded with a gift of £1000. The medal was first awarded in 1902 to...

 "for his revolutionary discovery of graphene and elucidation of its remarkable properties". He was awarded honorary doctorates from Delft University of Technology
Delft University of Technology
Delft University of Technology , also known as TU Delft, is the largest and oldest Dutch public technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands...

, ETH Zürich
ETH Zurich
The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich or ETH Zürich is an engineering, science, technology, mathematics and management university in the City of Zurich, Switzerland....

, the University of Antwerp
University of Antwerp
The University of Antwerp is one of the major Belgian universities located in the city of Antwerp. The name is sometimes abbreviated as UA.-History:...

 and the University of Manchester
University of Manchester
The University of Manchester is a public research university located in Manchester, United Kingdom. It is a "red brick" university and a member of the Russell Group of research-intensive British universities and the N8 Group...

.
In 2010, Geim was also knighted as Commander of the Order of the Netherlands Lion for his contribution to the Dutch Science.

Nobel Prize in Physics

On 5 October 2010 Geim was awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics
Nobel Prize in Physics
The Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...

 jointly with Novoselov "for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene". Upon hearing of the award he said, "I'm fine, I slept well. I didn't expect the Nobel Prize this year", and that his plans for the day would not change. He said he hopes that graphene and other two-dimensional crystals will change everyday life as plastics did for humanity. A colleague of Geim said that his award shows that people can still win a Nobel by "mucking about in a lab". The award made him the first person to win, as an individual, both a Nobel Prize and an Ig Nobel Prize. The lecture for the award took place on 8 December 2010 at Stockholm University
Stockholm University
Stockholm University is a state university in Stockholm, Sweden. It has over 28,000 students at four faculties, making it one of the largest universities in Scandinavia. The institution is also frequently regarded as one of the top 100 universities in the world...

.

View and opinions

Geim was one of 38 Nobel laureates who signed a declaration in 2010 issued by Scholars for Peace in the Middle East
Scholars for Peace in the Middle East
Scholars for Peace in the Middle East is an independent non-profit international community network of academic scholars, which according to its founder, conducts "pro-Israel advocacy"...

 condemning international attempts to boycott Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

i academics, institutions, and research centers.

At the Nobel Minds symposium in December 2010, Geim described the Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...

 committee's choice of Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobao as patronising, saying, "In the past ten years, China has developed not only economically, but even the strongest human rights supporter would agree also human rights have improved. Why do we need to distort this?"

Published works

  • Geim, A. K. et al. (1997). "Phase transitions in individual sub-micrometre superconductors". Nature
    Nature (journal)
    Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...

    390: 259–62. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
  • Geim, A. K. et al. (2000). "Fine Structure in Magnetization of Individual Fluxoid States". Physical Review Letters
    Physical Review Letters
    Physical Review Letters , established in 1958, is a peer reviewed, scientific journal that is published 52 times per year by the American Physical Society...

    (American Physical Society
    American Physical Society
    The American Physical Society is the world's second largest organization of physicists, behind the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. The Society publishes more than a dozen scientific journals, including the world renowned Physical Review and Physical Review Letters, and organizes more than 20...

    ) 85: 1528–31. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
  • Geim, A. K. et al. (2003). "Microfabricated adhesive mimicking gecko foot-hair". Nature Materials
    Nature Materials
    Nature Materials, is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Nature Publishing Group. It was launched in September 2002. Vincent Dusastre is the launching and current chief editor...

    2: 461–63. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
  • Novoselov, K. S. et al. (18 December 2003). "Subatomic movements of a domain wall in the Peierls potential". Nature
    Nature (journal)
    Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...

    426: 812–16. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
  • Novoselov, K. S. et al. (2004). "Room-temperature electric field effect and carrier-type inversion in graphene films". Submitted to Nature
    Nature (journal)
    Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...

    on 5 February 2004.
  • Novoselov, K. S. et al. (22 October 2004). "Electric Field Effect in Atomically Thin Carbon Films". Science
    Science (journal)
    Science is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is one of the world's top scientific journals....

    306 (5696): 666–69. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
  • Geim, Andrey K.; MacDonald, Allan K. (August 2007). . Physics Today
    Physics Today
    Physics Today, created in 1948, is the membership journal of the American Institute of Physics. It is provided to 130,000 members of twelve physics societies, including the American Physical Society...

    60: 35–41. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
  • Geim, Andre K.; Kim, Philip. (April 2008). "Carbon Wonderland". Scientific American
    Scientific American
    Scientific American is a popular science magazine. It is notable for its long history of presenting science monthly to an educated but not necessarily scientific public, through its careful attention to the clarity of its text as well as the quality of its specially commissioned color graphics...

    298: 90–97. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
  • Geim, A. K. (19 June 2009). "Graphene: Status and Prospects". Science
    Science (journal)
    Science is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is one of the world's top scientific journals....

    324 (5934): 1530–34. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
  • Geim, A. K.; Novoselov, K. S. (2007). "The rise of graphene". Nature
    Nature (journal)
    Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...

    6: 183–91. Retrieved 25 October 2010.


Further reading

  • Arthur, Charles. "Scientists magnetised by levitating frog". The Independent
    The Independent
    The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...

    . 12 April 1997. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
  • Hargittai, István. . Structural Chemistry (Springer Science+Business Media
    Springer Science+Business Media
    - Selected publications :* Encyclopaedia of Mathematics* Ergebnisse der Mathematik und ihrer Grenzgebiete * Graduate Texts in Mathematics * Grothendieck's Séminaire de géométrie algébrique...

    ). To be published December 2010. Retrieved 24 October 2010.


External links

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