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10-10-2007, 08:23 PM
MSU adjunct prof shares Nobel Prize
Physicist, German scientist, honored for discovery
Marisa Schultz / The Detroit News
Nobel Prize winner Albert Fert has served as an adjunct professor at Michigan State University for the past 10 years.
Surprised, but not astonished.
That was Michigan State University Professor Jack Bass' response Tuesday morning when he learned his longtime colleague and friend, Albert Fert, won the Nobel Prize in physics.
Fert, an MSU adjunct professor and French physicist, and Germany's Peter Grünberg share in the high honor for their 1988 discovery of giant magnetoresistance, which has made miniaturized hard disks in devices such as iPods possible.
"They had won all the prizes they could have won except for the Nobel Prize," said Bass, a physics professor. "I thought to myself that it might happen this year."
Bass and fellow MSU physics professors Bill Pratt and Peter Schroeder have worked closely with Fert, a professor at University Paris-Sud, Orsay, France, on giant magnetoresistance for nearly two decades. Their collaboration has involved visits to each other's labs and had led to about a dozen joint scientific publications. The partnership has strengthened MSU's Department of Physics and Astronomy and has led to further scientific understanding, university leaders say.
Bass, who visited Fert in France this year, quickly sent his friend a congratulatory e-mail early Tuesday morning. He's well-deserving of the award, Bass said, as the discovery of the new physical effect has benefited mankind and prompted the creation of highly practical devices, like hard disks for computers.
"iPods exist because of the discovery of giant magnetoresistance," Bass said.
MSU physicists were conducting research related to Fert's prior to his discovery, but the relationship took off when Schroeder went on a one-year sabbatical in 1990 to work with Fert in France. He found that MSU was better equipped to make certain scientific samples, so MSU began shipping high-quality magnetic multilayers to Fert in France for research, Bass said.
"We were able to jump in pretty quickly," Bass said, noting MSU has been among the world leaders in the nanoscience field ever since.
Fert, who's had the title of adjunct professor for 10 years, began sending his French students to MSU for research. Two of MSU's post-doctoral students have since worked in Fert's lab, Bass said.
"The result has been a very dynamic collaboration," Wolfgang Bauer, chairman of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, said in a statement.
Physicist, German scientist, honored for discovery
Marisa Schultz / The Detroit News
Nobel Prize winner Albert Fert has served as an adjunct professor at Michigan State University for the past 10 years.
Surprised, but not astonished.
That was Michigan State University Professor Jack Bass' response Tuesday morning when he learned his longtime colleague and friend, Albert Fert, won the Nobel Prize in physics.
Fert, an MSU adjunct professor and French physicist, and Germany's Peter Grünberg share in the high honor for their 1988 discovery of giant magnetoresistance, which has made miniaturized hard disks in devices such as iPods possible.
"They had won all the prizes they could have won except for the Nobel Prize," said Bass, a physics professor. "I thought to myself that it might happen this year."
Bass and fellow MSU physics professors Bill Pratt and Peter Schroeder have worked closely with Fert, a professor at University Paris-Sud, Orsay, France, on giant magnetoresistance for nearly two decades. Their collaboration has involved visits to each other's labs and had led to about a dozen joint scientific publications. The partnership has strengthened MSU's Department of Physics and Astronomy and has led to further scientific understanding, university leaders say.
Bass, who visited Fert in France this year, quickly sent his friend a congratulatory e-mail early Tuesday morning. He's well-deserving of the award, Bass said, as the discovery of the new physical effect has benefited mankind and prompted the creation of highly practical devices, like hard disks for computers.
"iPods exist because of the discovery of giant magnetoresistance," Bass said.
MSU physicists were conducting research related to Fert's prior to his discovery, but the relationship took off when Schroeder went on a one-year sabbatical in 1990 to work with Fert in France. He found that MSU was better equipped to make certain scientific samples, so MSU began shipping high-quality magnetic multilayers to Fert in France for research, Bass said.
"We were able to jump in pretty quickly," Bass said, noting MSU has been among the world leaders in the nanoscience field ever since.
Fert, who's had the title of adjunct professor for 10 years, began sending his French students to MSU for research. Two of MSU's post-doctoral students have since worked in Fert's lab, Bass said.
"The result has been a very dynamic collaboration," Wolfgang Bauer, chairman of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, said in a statement.