What is Albert Fert?
{{Nobelprize|Physics}} {{Infobox_Scientist | name = Albert Fert | image = Albert_Fert at EP2DS 2007 in Genua PICT5745.jpg | caption = Fert at the EP2DS 2007, Genoa | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1938|03|07|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Carcassonne]], [[France]] | nationality = [[France|French]] | field = [[Physics]] | work_institutions = [[Université Paris-Sud]], [[Michigan State University]] | alma_mater = [[École normale supérieure]] | doctoral_advisor = [[I. A. Campbell]] | doctoral_students = | known_for = [[Giant magnetoresistive effect]] | prizes = [[Wolf Prize in Physics]] (2006)<br />[[Japan Prize]] (2007)<br />[[Image:Nobel prize medal.svg|20px|Nobel Prize medal]] [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] (2007) | footnotes = }} '''Albert Fert''' (born 7 March 1938) is a [[France|French]] [[physics|physicist]]. He discovered [[giant magnetoresistance]] which was used to make [[gigabyte]] [[hard disk]]s much easier to build. He is a professor at [[Université Paris-Sud]] in [[Orsay]] and scientific director of a laboratory called [[Unité mixte de recherche]]. The laboratory is part of the [[Centre national de la recherche scientifique]] (National Scientific Research Centre) and [[Thales Group]]. He was awarded the 2007 [[Nobel Prize in Physics]] together with the German physicist [[Peter Grünberg]]. ==Studies== Fert graduated in 1962 from the [[École Normale Supérieure]] in [[Paris]]. He received his master's degree in 1963 at the [[University of Paris]], and earned his [[PhD]] in 1970 at the [[Université Paris-Sud]]. In 1988 Fert discovered [[Giant magnetoresistance]] (GMR) in [[iron]] and [[chromium]] which began [[spintronics]]; GMR was also discovered by Peter Grünberg from the [[Jülich Research Centre]] but [[Peter Grünberg]] did not work with Fert. Since 1988, Albert Fert has helped to improve [[spintronics]]. In 2004 he was elected to the [[French Academy of Sciences]]. In 2009 he was elected to the [[Academi