Transforming the world of hard disks – and another brain wave.
Materials research enters a new dimension
Big data, cloud computing, live streaming on the internet – in the era of Facebook, Google, Youtube and so on, life without these technologies is almost inconceivable. These technologies are also inconceivable without the scientist who created the physical bases for them: Stuart Parkin. With his groundbreaking work on magnetic data storage materials at the IBM Almaden Research Center in California, he succeeded in increasing the data density on hard disks by a factor of 1,000. In 2014, he was awarded with the Millennium Technology Prize from the Finnish Academy for Technology for his "key to the era of big data". This honour, which is endowed with one million Euros, is seen as being a kind of Nobel Prize in the field of technical and medical innovations.
A turning point in a lifetime of research
It felt like the right time for a re-orientation in a lifetime of research - and it involved a daring move by a highly acclaimed solid state physicist all the way from the Pacific coast of the USA to the city of Halle-an-der-Saale in Saxony-Anhalt. Stuart Parking has been stationed in Halle as Director of the Max Planck Institute for Microstructure Physics and Alexander-von-Humboldt Professor at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg since April 2014. He is continuing his research into new materials and concepts for the data storage of the future on the Weinberg campus. For the wiry Englishman, after spending decades at IBM and Stanford University, the move also means his return to Europe.
New prospects in Halle
"Being the Director of the Max-Planck Institute is one of the best jobs in the world," explains Parkin. "An excellent environment and excellent colleagues are available here for the kind of long term research that I'm doing." And his new colleagues view him as being a huge benefit to their team. Stuart Parkin is also bringing additional first rate researchers with him to Halle, giving the superb materials search here an added boost, and not least to his strength in developing new things into profitable applications. Ninety patents already carry his name.
Inspiration with spin
"I find creating artificial materials to be extremely interesting. You not only come across areas where nobody has ever been before, you can also transform knowledge into a useful application that has a major social impact – and can even transform society," highlights Parkin. An example of this is "Spintronic", a form of electronics which is not only based on the charging of the electrodes but also uses their spin. This can be understood as being a rotation on the individual axes which turns the electron into a small magnet. This results in brand new possibilities for the transportation and storage of data and new logical components. The associated effects have already enabled the hard disk technology developed by Parkin at IBM. Yet the potential of the spin technology is far from being exhausted, and is all set to continue to provide the physicists with further inspiration in Halle.
Click here to read more about the next memory revolution.
Contact:
Investment and Marketing Corporation Saxony-Anhalt
The economic development agency of the German federal state of Saxony-Anhalt
Tanja Rüdinger
Project Manager International Press & PR
Tel.: +49 391 5689976
Fax: +49 391 5689950
E-Mail: tanja.ruedinger@img-sachsen-anhalt
Internet: www.invest-in-saxony-anhalt.com
Investment and Marketing Corporation Saxony-Anhalt (IMG)
IMG is the economic development agency of the German federal state Saxony-Anhalt. IMG staff provides all services related to new business sites. In addition, we are marketing Saxony-Anhalt both nationally and internationally and developing tourism concepts.
We search our site and property database with 250 industrial and trade estates for a location tailored to your needs. We provide competent and individual advice for greenfield and brownfield sites, office properties or production halls. First site information provided within 24 hours. Arrangement of site visits take place following your preliminary selection. We can advise you on public grant programmes for investments, identify potential partners and arrange meetings with them. We identify a point of contact for you with the public authorities, coordinate and carry out negotiations for you on a federal state, state district and municipal level as well as with official bodies and institutions. We were assigned by the Ministry for Science and Economic Affairs of Saxony-Anhalt to guide you as a one-stop agency through the investment process.
Our services are free of charge for you!
Tags:
