Andre Geim was born in 1958 in Russia to Russian German engineers. He studied at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, receiving his PhD in metal physics in 1987. After positions in Russia and Europe, he became a professor at the University of Manchester in 2001. In 2004, while at Manchester, Geim discovered graphene through isolating single layers of carbon atoms from graphite. This groundbreaking discovery earned him and collaborator Konstantin Novoselov the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics.

1. Early years
Andre Geim was born to Konstantin Alekseyevich Geim and Nina Nikolayevna Bayer
on October 21, 1958. Both his parents were Russian German engineers. Geim has stated, "My mother's
grandmother was Jewish. I suffered fromanti-Semitism in Russia because my name sounds
Jewish". Geim has one brother, Vladislav. In 1965, the family moved to Nalchik, where he studied at an
English-language high school. After graduation, he applied to theMoscow Engineering Physics Institute.
He took the entrance exams twice, but was not accepted. He then applied to the Moscow Institute of
Physics and Technology (MIPT), where he was accepted. He said the students had to work extremely
hard: "The pressure to work and to study was so intense that it was not a rare thing for people to break
and leave, and some of them ended up with everything from schizophrenia to depression to suicide." He
received an MSc degree in 1982, and in 1987 obtained a PhD degree in metal physics from the Institute
of Solid State Physics(ISSP) at the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) in Chernogolovka. He said that
at the time he would not have chosen to study solid-state physics, preferring particle physics or
astrophysics, but is now happy with his choice.
Academic career
After earning his PhD, Geim worked as a research scientist at the Institute for
Microelectronics Technology (IMT) at RAS, and from 1990 as a post-doctoral fellow at the universities
of Nottingham (twice), Bath, and Copenhagen.
He obtained his first tenured position in 1994, when he was appointed associate
professor at Radboud University Nijmegen, where he did work on mesoscopic superconductivity. He later
gained Dutch citizenship. One of his doctoral students at Nijmegen was Konstantin Novoselov, who went
on to become his main research partner. However, Geim has said that he had an unpleasant time during
his academic career in the Netherlands."In addition, the situation was a bit surreal because outside the
university walls I received a warm-hearted welcome from everyone around, including Jan Kees and other
academics." (Dr. Jan Kees Maan was the research boss of Geim during his time in The Netherlands).
In 2001 he became a professor of physics at the University of Manchester, and
was appointed director of the Manchester Centre for Mesoscience and Nanotechnology in 2002,
andLangworthy Professor in 2007. Geim's wife and his long-standing co-author, Irina Grigorieva, also
moved to Manchester as a lecturer. Later they were joined by Novoselov. Since 2007 he has been
an EPSRC Senior Research Fellow. In 2010 Radboud University Nijmegen appointed him professor of
innovative materials and nanoscience.
Research
Geim's achievements include the discovery of a simple method for isolating single atomic layers of
graphite, known as graphene, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Manchester and IMT.
The team published their findings in October 2004 in Science.
Graphene consists of one-atom-thick layers of carbon atoms arranged in two-dimensional hexagons, and
is the thinnest material in the world, as well as one of the strongest and hardest. The material has many
potential applications and is considered a superior alternative to silicon.
Geim said one of the first applications of graphene could be in the development of flexible touchscreens,
and that he has not patented the material because he would need a specific application and an industrial

2. partner. Geim's research into diamagnetic levitation resulted in a famous experiment in 1997 in which a
frog was levitated. He has also carried out research on mesoscopic physics and superconductivity.
Nobel Prize in Physics
The Institute of Physics awarded him the 2007 Mott Medal and Prize "for his discovery of a new class of
materials—free-standing two-dimensional crystals—in particular grapheme He shared the
2008 EuroPhysics Prize with Novoselov "for discovering and isolating a single free-standing atomic layer
of carbon (graphene) and elucidating its remarkable electronic properties". In 2009 he received
the Körber European Science Award .On 5 October 2010 Geim was awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in
Physics jointly with Novoselov "for groundbreaking experiments regarding the two-dimensional material
.
graphene". Upon hearing of the award he said, "I'm fine, I slept well. I didn't expect the Nobel Prize this
year", and that his plans for the day would not change. He said he hopes that graphene and other two-
dimensional crystals will change everyday life as plastics did for humanity. A colleague of Geim said that
his award shows that people can still win a Nobel by "mucking about in a lab".The award made him the
first person to win, as an individual, both a Nobel Prize and an Ig Nobel Prize. The lecture for the award
took place on 8 December 2010 at Stockholm University.