Albert Fert

Facts

Albert Fert

© The Nobel Foundation. Photo: U. Montan

Albert Fert
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2007

Born: 7 March 1938, Carcassonne, France

Affiliation at the time of the award: Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France; Unité Mixte de Physique CNRS/THALES, Orsay, France

Prize motivation: “for the discovery of Giant Magnetoresistance”

Prize share: 1/2

Work

When materials are reduced to just a few atomic layers—a few nanometers in thickness—their properties change. Independently of one another, Albert Fert and Peter Grünberg discovered the phenomenon Giant Magneto Resistance (GMR) in 1988. GMR involves small changes in magnetic fields creating major differences in electrical resistance. It has also had an impact on electronics, especially read heads, where information stored magnetically is converted to electric current. Thanks to GMR, hard drives have become much smaller.

To cite this section
MLA style: Albert Fert – Facts. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2024. Mon. 9 Dec 2024. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/physics/2007/fert/facts/>

Back to top Back To Top Takes users back to the top of the page

Streams during Nobel Week

Watch the 2024 Nobel Prize lectures, Nobel Week Dialogue, the prize award ceremonies in Oslo and Stockholm and Nobel Peace Prize Forum here at nobelprize.org.

Watch lectures and award ceremonies

Explore prizes and laureates

Look for popular awards and laureates in different fields, and discover the history of the Nobel Prize.