Sir Andre Geim is a distinguished Regius Professor and Royal Society Research Professor at The University of Manchester whose pioneering work has fundamentally transformed the field of materials science. Born in Sochi, Russia in 1958 to German parents, he holds dual British and Dutch citizenship and has established himself as one of the most influential experimental physicists of the modern era. His academic journey began in Moscow, followed by postdoctoral research at the universities of Nottingham, Bath, and Copenhagen before securing a tenured professorship in the Netherlands. Geim joined The University of Manchester in 2001, where his research environment would soon produce one of the most significant scientific breakthroughs of the 21st century.
Professor Geim's most celebrated achievement is the isolation and characterization of graphene, a single-atom-thick layer of carbon that has opened entirely new fields of scientific inquiry and earned him the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics. His research has produced extraordinary scholarly impact, with nearly 50 of his papers cited over 1,000 times and 10 cited over 10,000 times, including two works ranked among the 100 most cited research papers in human history according to Nature. Beyond graphene, Geim pioneered research in diamagnetic levitation, famously demonstrating the levitation of living frogs which earned him the 2000 Ig Nobel Prize, and developed gecko tape based on the adhesive properties of gecko feet. His discovery of free-standing two-dimensional atomic crystals has created a paradigm shift in condensed matter physics where relativistic quantum phenomena can be studied through bench-top experiments.
Sir Andre holds the unique distinction of being the only individual awarded both a Nobel Prize and an Ig Nobel Prize, reflecting his exceptional ability to combine deep scientific rigor with creative exploration of unconventional ideas. He has been knighted by the British monarch, receiving the title 'Sir' after becoming a British citizen, and holds the rank of Commander in the Order of the Dutch Lion and is a distinguished member of the national science academies of the USA and the UK, and a Foreign Member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, among others. Thomson Reuters has consistently recognized him among the world's most active scientists for pioneering research that has catalyzed entire new subfields in materials science. Today, Geim continues to lead cutting-edge research at Manchester, inspiring a new generation of scientists to think boldly across traditional disciplinary boundaries while exploring the fundamental properties of novel two-dimensional materials.
