Nobel physics award to German, Frenchman

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on Tuesday awarded French and German scientists the Nobel Prize in physics for their work on giant magnetoresistance.

The Nobel panel in Stockholm awarded Albert Fert of the University of Paris-Sud, in Orsay, France; and Peter Grunberg, of the Julich Research Center, in Julich, Germany, each with the medal and split the $1.5 million prize for their work in advancing the quantum mechanical effect used in storing vast amounts of data on computer devices.

Fert and Grunberg are credited with independently discovering the giant magnetoresistance effect in 1988 in multilayers of iron and chromium, considered the birth of "spintronics," or the technology used to store huge amounts of information on spinning media.

The formal awards ceremony is scheduled for Dec. 10.