Louis Néel

Louis Eugène Félix Néel
Born 22 November 1904(1904-11-22)
Lyon, France
Died 17 November 2000(2000-11-17) (aged 95)
Fields Solid-state physics
Alma mater École Normale Supérieure
Notable awards Nobel Prize in Physics (1970)

Louis Eugène Félix Néel ForMemRS (22 November 1904 – 17 November 2000) was a French physicist born in Lyon.[1] He studied at the Lycée du Parc in Lyon and was accepted at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. He was corecipient (with the Swedish astrophysicist Hannes Alfvén) of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1970 for his pioneering studies of the magnetic properties of solids.[2] His contributions to solid state physics have found numerous useful applications, particularly in the development of improved computer memory units. About 1930 he suggested that a new form of magnetic behavior might exist; called antiferromagnetism, as opposed to ferromagnetism. Above a certain temperature (the Néel temperature) this behaviour stops. Néel pointed out (1947) that materials could also exist showing ferrimagnetism. Néel has also given an explanation of the weak magnetism of certain rocks, making possible the study of the history of Earth's magnetic field.[3]

References

  1. ^ Friedel, J.; Averbuch, P. (1 December 2003). "Louis Eugène Félix Néel. 22 November 1904 - 17 November 2000". Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society 49: 367–384. doi:10.1098/rsbm.2003.0021. 
  2. ^ Néel, L. (3 December 1971). "Magnetism and Local Molecular Field". Science 174 (4013): 985–992. doi:10.1126/science.174.4013.985. PMID 17757022. 
  3. ^ Néel, Louis (1 April 1955). "Some theoretical aspects of rock-magnetism". Advances in Physics 4 (14): 191–243. doi:10.1080/00018735500101204. 

External links