2010 Nobel Prize in Physics has UBC connection

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2010 was awarded jointly to Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov "for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material graphene".

This year's Laureates both studied and began their careers as physicists in Russia. Now they are both professors at the University of Manchester in Great Britain. See the Nobel Prize Press Release

Graphene is a form of carbon only one atom thick, and has has remarkable properties. Not only is it the thinnest material known, but also the strongest. As a conductor of electricity it performs as well as copper. As a conductor of heat it outperforms all other known materials. It is almost completely transparent.

An interesting sidelight is that UBC professor Gordon Semenoff published a theoretical paper in 1984 discussing the properties of graghene -- "Condensed-Matter Simulation of a Three-Dimensional Anomaly". Physical Review Letters 53: 5449.