NY Times

By Dennis Overbye

A pair of Russian-born physicists working at the University of Manchester in England have won the Nobel prize in physics for investigating the properties of ultra-thin carbon flakes known as graphene, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said Tuesday.

They are Andre Geim, 51, and Konstantin Novoselov, 36. They will split the prize of $1.4 million.

Graphene, in which carbon atoms are arranged in a flat hexagon lattice like chicken wire, is not only the thinnest material in the world at one atom thick, but also the strongest.

A sheet of it stretched over a coffee cup could support the weight of a truck bearing down on a pencil point. Among its other properties, it conducts electricity and heat better than any other known material and is completely transparent. Physicists say that eventually it could rival silicon as a basis for computer chips, serve as a sensitive pollution monitoring material, improve flat screen televisions and enable the creation of new materials, among other things.

University of Manchester, via Associated Press

Konstantin Novoselov, left, and Andre Geim.

In a statement, the Royal Academy said, “Carbon, the basis of all known life on earth, has surprised us once again.”