Member Article

Graphene scientists awarded Manchester's top honour

Professor Sir Andre Geim FRS and Professor Sir Kostya Novoselov FRS have been awarded the Honorary Freedom of the City of Manchester for their work on the material graphene.

The freedom of the city is the highest honour Manchester can bestow. The honour recognises the pioneering work undertaken by Sir Andre and Sir Kostya at The University of Manchester.

Along with their colleagues, Sir Andre and Sir Kostya are widely recognised for isolating the two-dimensional material at The University of Manchester, placing the city at the forefront of the global graphene revolution. It was this work that led to each of them being awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2010.

Graphene, dubbed the ‘miracle material’, can be described as a single free-standing atomic layer of carbon, 200 times stronger than steel, a million times thinner than a human hair and more conductive than copper.

The material has a huge number of possible applications, including electronics, the application of medicines and creating strong light weight coatings for everything from wind turbines to food.

Building on the work of Sir Andre, Sir Kostya and their colleagues, a new £61m graphene facility, the National Graphene Institute, is being created in the city and will establish Manchester as the world’s leading graphene research and technology hub.

The Lord Mayor of Manchester Councillor Naeem ul Hassan JP said: “It was a privilege to be able to present the freedom of the city to Sir Andre and Sir Kostya .

“The significance of their work on graphene is truly breath-taking and we are yet to truly grasp the magnitude of its real-life applications.”

“Manchester is a city born of innovation so it is only right we recognise the achievements of Sir Andre and Sir Kostya - who have joined the pantheon of scientific giants connected to our forward-looking city.”

Sir Andre said: “It is a great honour to be awarded the Freedom of the City of Manchester. Manchester has been my home now for almost 14 years and is very close to my heart.”

Sir Kostya said: “I’m thrilled to have been awarded the Freedom of the City. Manchester was home for the largest proportion of my most exciting experiments, and the local support we get is tremendous.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Simon Malia .