12 OCTOBER 2010 NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY PHYSICS NOBEL PRIZE
Russian physicists
Andre Geim and Novoselov Konstantin
won the Nobel Prize
of 2010 Physics for his groundbreaking experiments with graphene
, a powerful material formed carbon that promises to transform the way that today are manufactured electronic and computer products.
1) Konstantin Novoselov, 2) Andre Geim The graphene
discovered structure is actually For several decades, it is clear from the graphite (eg, mining of a pen). However, there were difficulties in isolating individual layers in order to study it. That is what they managed to successfully
Andre Geim and Novoselov Konstantin
.
Why is it so important graphene
?
The graphene
takes the form of a thin slab of ordinary carbon, the thickness of just one atom, which has excellent properties: high strength, transparency, and extreme flexibility.
As conductor of electricity, graphene
serves as well as copper to transmit power
. It is extremely thin and extremely strong. And best of all, it's made of carbon
the basis of all life on Earth, an element that can be easily found in any country in the world.
What makes it so important to the investigation of graphene
is the possibility of replacing silicon currently used in the manufacture of all computer chips, and on which rests all information-related industries, and large , the technology
.
Although experiments
Geim and Novoselov
also have theoretical implications, including the ability to study a new class of two-dimensional material with unique properties, its evidence and findings open the way for a wide range of practical applications.
Graphene is a hexagonal lattice like a honeycomb, made of carbon atoms is believed that graphene transistors
, for example, would be much faster than current silicon transistors, the resulting in more efficient computers. And less expensive, since the carbon
is a readily available material. Contamination would also be less than that of silicon-based products.
But also, as the graphene
is transparent and a good conductor, is ideal for producing flexible touch screens, light panels folding or even solar panels
.
When combined with plastics, graphene
can turn them into conductors of electricity while making them more resistant to heat and more mechanically robust. This capability can be used in new super-strong materials, but at the same time are slim, elastic and lightweight. In the future, satellites, airplanes, and cars may be made of such materials include the graphene
.
1) Basic unit hexagonal graphene: contains 2 carbon atoms. 2) Hypothetical graphene network can withstand a weight Konstantin Novoselov, barely 36, first worked with Andre Geim
, 51, as a PhD student in the Netherlands, although both were born and began their Physical
racing in Russia. Together they continued to work
UK, where they are now professors at the University of Manchester
. The 2010 Nobel Prize
, consisting of about 1 million euros, is due to his incessant experiments and contributions to the development of research on this new material, rather than an investigation or experiment in particular.
Geim and Novoselov
successfully managed to produce, isolate, identify, and characterize the graphene
, a task performed better than any other scientist, according to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, responsible for ruling
Award Winners Physics Nobel every year.
NOBEL PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY
The 2010 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was appointed to scientists Richard F. Heck (USA), Ei-ichi Negishi
(Japan), Akira Suzuki
(Japan), the development of catalysis by cross-linking of palladium in organic synthesis, an important tool for the current
organic chemistry.
The applications of this tool reaches many areas of action for chemical
like
medicine, electronics, and technology. Develop the ability of scientists to create sophisticated chemicals, for example, the development of molecules based carbon as complex as the same as those found in nature.
The organic chemistry applied exploring ways to create carbon-based compounds
, such as plastics and pharmaceuticals. To achieve this, the chemicals have to be able to join the carbon atoms to form functional molecules. However, the carbon
is a stable element, which does not react easily with others.
Therefore, the first methods to force the carbon to join it were based on more reactive through substances. Solutions such work when it was about creating simple molecules, but synthesize more complex the method failed.
The cross-linking catalyzed by the palladium
solved this problem and provided the chemicals of a new tool to work more efficiently. In
reactions produced by Heck,
Negishi and Suzuki
, carbon atoms
meet palladium atoms
(rich in electrons and, therefore, a "magnet" for carbon) leading to a rapid chemical reaction
(ie, a catalyst
).
Currently, catalysis by the palladium
Crosslinking organic synthesis is used in research worldwide, the development of important
drugs to combat cancer
or powerful virus, or in commercial production, for example, pharmaceutical
and molecules used in the electronics industry
.
None of the three scientists worked together, but his experimental work separately managed the development of this important chemical tool and the ability to use today. Heck
, born in 1931 in Springfield (USA), is doctorate in 1954 by the University
Los Angeles, California, and professor emeritus at the University of Delaware, in New York. Negishi
Japanese born in 1935 in Changchun (now China) and his Ph.D. in 1963 from the University of Pennsylvania
to exercise later in the Purdue University (West Lafayette, USA).
Suzuki, born in Japan in 1930, received his doctorate in 1959 by the University of Hokkaido
, which is currently a professor.
The three shared the 2010 Nobel Prize awarded by The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, a prize of about 1 million euros will be awarded in a pompous ceremony led by the King of Sweden on December 10, the day recalls the death of Alfred Nobel
.
