FYI - saw this in National Journa's Technology Daily this morning. Nice to see recognition for this work, though I think there are probably better examples of the fruits of their labor than MP3 players coming down the pike. For instance, how has giant magnetoresistance enabled less expensive mobile computing devices that have helped (or will help) bring computing power to remote areas of the world?
Cheers, Charlie Meisch Culture Scientists Behind Data Breakthrough Win Nobel Prize Two European scientists were awarded the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physics on Tuesday for a discovery that lets computers, iPods and other digital devices store reams of data on ever-shrinking hard disks. AP and The Washington Post report that Albert Fert of France and Peter Grunberg of Germany independently discovered a physical effect in 1988 that has led to sensitive tools for reading the information stored on hard disks. That sensitivity lets the electronics industry use smaller and smaller disks. "The MP3 and iPod industry would not have existed without this discovery," Borje Johansson, a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, said. "You would not have an iPod without this effect." The two scientists discovered a phenomenon called giant magnetoresistance, which allows information stored magnetically on a hard disk to be converted to electrical signals that the computer reads. _________________________________________________________________ Climb to the top of the charts! Play Star Shuffle: the word scramble challenge with star power. http://club.live.com/star_shuffle.aspx?icid=starshuffle_wlmailtextlink_oct _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE@digitaldivide.net http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message.
