Andre Konstantin Geim, FRS (Андрей Константинович Гейм; born 21 October 1958) is a Dutch-Russian-British physicist working at the University of Manchester. Geim was awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Konstantin Novoselov for his work on graphene. He is the Langworthy Professor and director of the Manchester Centre for Mesoscience and Nanotechnology at the University of Manchester.
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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 because my name sounds Jewish". Geim has one brother, Vladislav. In 1965, the family moved to Nalchik, where he studied at an English-language high school. After graduation, he applied to the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute. 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 (ISSP) at the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) in Chernogolovka. He said that at the time he would not have chosen to study solid-state physics, preferring particle physics or astrophysics, but is now happy with his choice.
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 (twice), Bath, and Copenhagen. 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, where he did work on mesoscopic superconductivity. He later gained Dutch citizenship. One of his doctoral students at Nijmegen was Konstantin Novoselov, who went on to become his main research partner.
In 2001 he became a professor of physics at the University of Manchester, and was appointed director of the Manchester Centre for Mesoscience and Nanotechnology in 2002, and Langworthy Professor 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.
Geim's achievements include the discovery of a simple method for isolating single atomic layers of graphite, known as graphene, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Manchester and IMT. The team published their findings in October 2004 in Science.
Graphene consists of one-atom-thick layers of carbon atoms 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.
Geim said one of the first applications of graphene could be in the development of flexible touchscreens, 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 adhesive which became known as gecko tape—so called because of the adhesiveness of gecko 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.
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 and superconductivity.
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.
Geim shared the 2000 Ig Nobel Prize in physics with Michael Berry for the frog experiment. In 2006 he appeared on the Scientific American 50. The Institute of Physics 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.
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. The United States National Academy of Sciences 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 "for his revolutionary discovery of graphene and elucidation of its remarkable properties". He was awarded honorary doctorates from Delft University of Technology, ETH Zürich, the University of Antwerp and the University of Manchester. In 2010, Geim was also knighted as Commander of the Order of the Netherlands Lion for his contribution to the Dutch Science.
On 5 October 2010 Geim was awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics 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.
Geim was one of 38 Nobel laureates who signed a declaration in 2010 issued by Scholars for Peace in the Middle East condemning international attempts to boycott Israeli academics, institutions, and research centers.
At the Nobel Minds symposium in December 2010, Geim described the Nobel Peace Prize 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?"
Andre Geim
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