Hard disk boffins get Nobel prize

THE 2007 NOBEL Prize for Physics was dished out today to France’s Albert Fert and Germany’s Peter Gruenberg for their discoveries related to the miniaturising of hard disks.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the $1.5 million prize in recognition of the discovery of giant magnetoresistance which has revolutionised computer data storage and retrieval.

According to the academy, the two scientists’ work has made it possible "to miniaturise hard disks so radically in recent years." The two scientists have led the way in producing technology capable of converting tiny magnetic changes into differences in electrical resistance.

Harnessing those tiny changes (called “spintronics”) make it possible to pack more data onto a hard disk. This technology has also helped in the development of handheld devices such as cell phones and mp3 players.

Chris Marrows, a physicist at Leeds University who specialises in spintronics said the idea of spintronics, "is we could use the spins of the electron instead of an electrical charge to process and store massive amounts of data on disks. It is the thing that has made Ipods and anything that requires lots of data storage, like YouTube." µ