Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov have won the 2010 Nobel prize in Physics for their experiments on graphene: atom-thick sheets of carbon atoms that have become the darling of physicists and materials scientists since the Nobellists created them in free-standing form six years ago.

Touch-screens, chemical sensors, electrodes, frequency generators, composites, supercapacitors, transistors, DNA sequencers: whatever the application, it seems, conductive, strong graphene has been tipped for the job. It may even replace silicon in the electronics circuits of the future.

Geim and Novoselov started the buzz in 2004, when, working at the University of Manchester, UK, they discovered that they could use scotch tape to rub off tiny flecks of graphene from a piece of graphite – known to most people as a pencil lead.

“When I got the telephone call, I thought, ‘oh shit’!” Geim said at the press conference. “The second thought that came to my mind: ‘Oh dear, I will not win many more prizes.’" (Not even the IgNobel has eluded his grasp: he won that in 2000 for levitating a frog).

credit: Nobelprize.org