Albert Fert

Albert Fert

Paris Descartes University 2009, Paris
Born 7 March 1938 (1938-03-07) (age 72)
Carcassonne, France
Residence Paris, France
Nationality France
Fields Physics
Institutions Université Paris-Sud, Michigan State University
Alma mater École normale supérieure
Doctoral advisor I. A. Campbell
Known for Giant magnetoresistive effect
Notable awards Wolf Prize in Physics (2006)
Japan Prize (2007)
Nobel Prize in Physics (2007)

Albert Fert (born 7 March 1938 in Carcassonne, Aude) is a French physicist and one of the discoverers of giant magnetoresistance which brought about a breakthrough in gigabyte hard disks. He is currently professor at Université Paris-Sud in Orsay and scientific director of a joint laboratory ('Unité mixte de recherche') between the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (National Scientific Research Centre) and Thales Group. Also, he is an Adjunct professor of physics at Michigan State University. He was awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physics together with Peter Grünberg.

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Biography

Fert graduated in 1962 from the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. He received his master's degree in 1963 at the University of Paris, and earned his PhD in 1970 at the Université Paris-Sud.

In 1988 Fert discovered the Giant magnetoresistance effect (GMR) in multilayers of iron and chromium which is recognized as the birth of spintronics; GMR was simultaneously and independently discovered by Peter Grünberg from the Jülich Research Centre. Since 1988, Albert Fert has made contributions to the field of spintronics.

Honours and awards

Bibliography

  • Fert, Albert. 2006. "Summary of Symposium D on "Magnetoelectronics". Journal of Alloys and Compounds. 423, no. 1: 147.
  • Fert, Albert, and Shang-Fan Lee. 1996. "Theory of the Bipolar Spin Switch". Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter. 53, no. 10: 6554.
  • Fert, Albert, Jean-Luc Duvail, and Thierry Valet. 1995. "Spin Relaxation Effects in the Perpendicular Magnetoresistance of Magnetic Multilayers". Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter. 52, no. 9: 6513.
  • Fert, Albert, Jean-Marie George, Henri Jaffres, Richard Mattana, and Pierre Seneor. 2003. "The New Era of Spintronics". Europhysics News. 34, no. 6: 227.
  • Hueso, Luis E, Jose M Pruneda, Valeria Ferrari, Gavin Burnell, Jose P Valdes-Herrera, Benjamin D Simons, Peter B Littlewood, Emilio Artacho, Albert Fert, and Neil D Mathur. 2007. "Transformation of Spin Information into Large Electrical Signals Using Carbon Nanotubes". Nature. 445, no. 7126: 410.
  • Fert, Albert, Jean-Luc Duvail, Tierry Henri. 2006. "Supersymmetric Spin Information is Contained in Large Spinning Carbon Nanotubes". Europhysics Lett.. 80, no. 3: 117.
  • Levy, Peter M, and Albert Fert. 2006. "Condensed Matter: Electronic Properties, Etc. - Spin Transfer in Magnetic Tunnel Junctions with Hot Electrons". Physical Review Letters. 97, no. 9: 97205.

References

External links