0:00:03 > 0:00:08What does it take to be a scientific pioneer?
0:00:09 > 0:00:13To reframe and popularise evolutionary theory?
0:00:16 > 0:00:21To reveal a new material and win science's most coveted prize?
0:00:22 > 0:00:27Or discover one of palaeontology's elusive missing links?
0:00:29 > 0:00:34Is the key to brilliance talent, ego or just plain good luck?
0:00:34 > 0:00:38What makes a beautiful scientific mind?
0:00:42 > 0:00:48Professor Andre Geim hit the headlines in 2010 with graphene,
0:00:48 > 0:00:50a groundbreaking new material.
0:00:51 > 0:00:54The discovery of graphene is one of those wonderful,
0:00:54 > 0:00:58quite rare occasions when you do something very simple,
0:00:58 > 0:01:02almost playful, and yet make a profound discovery.
0:01:04 > 0:01:08It's a discovery that won Geim the highest honour in physics
0:01:08 > 0:01:11and made him a scientific superstar.
0:01:13 > 0:01:15The Nobel Prize is THE biggest thing you could get as a scientist.
0:01:15 > 0:01:17It's like having ten Oscars.
0:01:17 > 0:01:22But Andre Geim's path to the top has been anything but orthodox.
0:01:22 > 0:01:26A Russian emigre, he's a scientific entrepreneur
0:01:26 > 0:01:29who's had to constantly reinvent himself.
0:01:29 > 0:01:34His originality, his creativity, is extremely important.
0:01:34 > 0:01:39His experiments have led him to bizarre discoveries -
0:01:39 > 0:01:44from levitating frogs to a tape that sticks to surfaces
0:01:44 > 0:01:46like a gecko's foot.
0:01:46 > 0:01:48Watch how it goes in.
0:01:48 > 0:01:54Playfulness has been central to the way he's challenged the orthodoxy.
0:01:54 > 0:01:57Andre exemplifies all that is not logical, dull and boring.
0:01:57 > 0:02:01With a little bit more experience, you can drink liquid nitrogen.
0:02:01 > 0:02:03'Andre is different.
0:02:03 > 0:02:07'He is a sort of entertainer and a showman.'
0:02:07 > 0:02:10He likes this. He enjoys these kind of things.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12Loves to provoke people,
0:02:12 > 0:02:18loves to poke their finger in them and look whether he can stir them up.
0:02:18 > 0:02:23Annoying your colleagues is one of the pleasures I will never give up.
0:02:23 > 0:02:25He doesn't suffer fools gladly.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29I should imagine that if you don't shape up in Andre's lab,
0:02:29 > 0:02:30you probably get the boot.
0:02:30 > 0:02:34How did developing his unique approach to science
0:02:34 > 0:02:37enable Andre Geim to work the system to his advantage
0:02:37 > 0:02:42AND make the discovery of a lifetime?
0:03:05 > 0:03:10Andre Geim's life's work has been to gain a better understanding
0:03:10 > 0:03:13of the materials that make up the world around us.
0:03:18 > 0:03:22Ultimately, it's related to the question, what is life?
0:03:22 > 0:03:28How life is organised, how we function, how our brain functions.
0:03:29 > 0:03:31The study of materials
0:03:31 > 0:03:35is part of a discipline known as condensed matter physics.
0:03:36 > 0:03:40We know that trees, forest, everything consists of atoms
0:03:40 > 0:03:45and molecules, but understanding how individual atoms
0:03:45 > 0:03:49and molecules behave, doesn't help you to understand
0:03:49 > 0:03:52how this pine cone grows.
0:03:52 > 0:03:57That's where condensed matter physics comes into play.
0:04:04 > 0:04:09Condensed matter physics is broken up into many areas.
0:04:10 > 0:04:14Just one subject can be a scientist's life's work.
0:04:16 > 0:04:21But Andre has made switching fields a feature of his career.
0:04:24 > 0:04:28One thing that you find in science is that many people
0:04:28 > 0:04:30spend their career doing research on what they did
0:04:30 > 0:04:34as an undergraduate research project or their PhD and they stick with it.
0:04:34 > 0:04:38Andre's dramatically changed fields several times and that is unusual.
0:04:40 > 0:04:45Andre Geim's Nobel Prize is partly as a result of his ability
0:04:45 > 0:04:49to see the bigger picture, to look at different areas
0:04:49 > 0:04:53and see how different phenomena in science are interconnected.
0:04:54 > 0:04:59Andre is driven by a relentless pursuit of new ideas.
0:05:01 > 0:05:07Studying physics is my daytime job and it's my hobby as well,
0:05:07 > 0:05:10and you need to enjoy your hobby.
0:05:10 > 0:05:17And so, if you do the same thing all over again during, whatever,
0:05:17 > 0:05:2140 years of your active career, you get bored.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24I am trying to search for new phenomena
0:05:24 > 0:05:30and to search for new phenomena, you have to stray from the trodden path
0:05:30 > 0:05:34into some unknown areas. And each time, when there is a possibility
0:05:34 > 0:05:40to stray away, I try to do that.
0:05:40 > 0:05:45But while straying from the conventional path can be risky,
0:05:45 > 0:05:48Andre has repeatedly turned it to his advantage.
0:05:48 > 0:05:53To survive and get funding and to get papers in good journals,
0:05:53 > 0:05:55we've got to be the first to do the stuff.
0:05:55 > 0:05:57So there is this very competitive element.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00I would say almost a sporting element about it.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02So, there's this combination of creativity
0:06:02 > 0:06:06and this feeling of competitive sportiness in science
0:06:06 > 0:06:08that's very exciting, I think.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11Andre is exceptionally, exceptionally, exceptionally driven
0:06:11 > 0:06:13and exceptionally competitive, I would say.
0:06:17 > 0:06:22The roots of this ambition were nurtured by an unconventional,
0:06:22 > 0:06:24yet idyllic, upbringing.
0:06:26 > 0:06:30In 1950s communist Russia, Andre's city-based parents
0:06:30 > 0:06:33thought he'd be better off with his grandmother in Sochi
0:06:33 > 0:06:35on the shores of the Black Sea.
0:06:38 > 0:06:40It was a pretty happy childhood.
0:06:40 > 0:06:47I was left by my parents to live with my grandma
0:06:47 > 0:06:50for the first seven years of my life,
0:06:50 > 0:06:56and every summer I returned for three months to stay with her.
0:06:56 > 0:07:00Andre's interest in the scientific method was cultivated by days
0:07:00 > 0:07:03spent on the beach, near the weather station
0:07:03 > 0:07:05where his grandmother worked.
0:07:05 > 0:07:09She was a meteorologist responsible for the weather station
0:07:09 > 0:07:12on the Black Sea coast.
0:07:12 > 0:07:19The weather station was sort of 10m away from the sea,
0:07:19 > 0:07:25because she needed to take twice a day how high the waves were
0:07:25 > 0:07:27and the temperature of the sea.
0:07:27 > 0:07:33These recordings went somewhere to the centre of the city or so on.
0:07:33 > 0:07:39So that's... That's a pretty nice time. I'm missing it very much.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48Andre had excelled in physics at school,
0:07:48 > 0:07:51so it was a natural choice for a degree.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58HE SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN
0:07:59 > 0:08:04But getting into a Moscow university would prove a test of character.
0:08:04 > 0:08:09Initially, he decided not to aim for the very top.
0:08:09 > 0:08:15I was from a rather provincial city which was what,
0:08:15 > 0:08:21maybe 1,000 miles away from Moscow, so confidence wasn't there.
0:08:21 > 0:08:26So, I went first to the second-tier,
0:08:26 > 0:08:30but still a very good university in Moscow.
0:08:30 > 0:08:32LECTURER SPEAKS IN RUSSIAN
0:08:32 > 0:08:38I took the exams and I failed. Failed miserably.
0:08:44 > 0:08:47Faced with the unappealing alternative
0:08:47 > 0:08:49of conscription into the Red Army,
0:08:49 > 0:08:54Andre went back to his parents for a year of intensive study.
0:08:54 > 0:08:57But when he sat his retakes, he got a shock.
0:08:59 > 0:09:04Problems were difficult, OK? Surprisingly difficult, yeah.
0:09:04 > 0:09:09So I got a pretty low mark, not a fail, but a low mark
0:09:09 > 0:09:14and I realised that this was not enough
0:09:14 > 0:09:21to pass through the exams and get accepted to the university.
0:09:23 > 0:09:26Andre was uneasy,
0:09:26 > 0:09:30and after the exams, his fears were confirmed.
0:09:33 > 0:09:39I remember I came from this exam back to the hostel
0:09:39 > 0:09:43and there were people whom I explained to previously
0:09:43 > 0:09:46how to solve those problems for them
0:09:46 > 0:09:51and they got highest marks and I got very low marks.
0:09:51 > 0:09:55He could think of only one explanation.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58Every Russian passport stated its owner's ethnicity.
0:09:58 > 0:10:00Andre was of German descent.
0:10:00 > 0:10:04In this Cold War era, he was viewed with suspicion.
0:10:04 > 0:10:10For the state of the Soviet Union, I was a German
0:10:10 > 0:10:18and I was a potential immigrant and a threat to the system.
0:10:20 > 0:10:26It was a pretty unpleasant experience to learn this policy
0:10:26 > 0:10:31for the first time in your life
0:10:31 > 0:10:37as a sort of idealistic person who comes to a university
0:10:37 > 0:10:40and thinks that he's equal to everyone else,
0:10:40 > 0:10:45and then you find out that some animals are less equal than others,
0:10:45 > 0:10:49only because they have this different ethnicity.
0:10:53 > 0:10:57Convinced of his ability, Andre took an unusual step.
0:11:01 > 0:11:03He applied to Phystech,
0:11:03 > 0:11:05the top physics and maths institution in Russia.
0:11:10 > 0:11:17I think that Phystech was a sort of elite institution
0:11:17 > 0:11:20because of Phystech's system.
0:11:20 > 0:11:27If you are lower in standards, you just simply don't get there.
0:11:27 > 0:11:34You have to work hard to reach the level to get through the entry exam
0:11:34 > 0:11:37and then to survive in Phystech.
0:11:40 > 0:11:41The gamble paid off.
0:11:41 > 0:11:45Phystech were more interested in Andre's talent than his ethnicity.
0:11:45 > 0:11:47He was in.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53Now he had to survive.
0:11:58 > 0:12:05Our group was around 100 people which entered to deal with physics.
0:12:05 > 0:12:10And within this group of 100 there were winners
0:12:10 > 0:12:15of international Olympiads in maths and physics and so on.
0:12:15 > 0:12:22So essentially, creme de la creme of the brightest kids.
0:12:24 > 0:12:30We all incredibly suffered during this first half a year
0:12:30 > 0:12:35when we had to be brought up to the level of those kids
0:12:35 > 0:12:37with a strong background.
0:12:37 > 0:12:40Being amongst an elite
0:12:40 > 0:12:43ignited Andre's naturally competitive streak.
0:12:43 > 0:12:49After half a year, there was half-year exams.
0:12:49 > 0:12:51Five or six of those.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53I managed to get Excellent,
0:12:53 > 0:12:57the highest mark you can get in all of them.
0:12:57 > 0:13:01And then it was, "I can do it."
0:13:02 > 0:13:06At Moscow's state science park of Chernogolovka,
0:13:06 > 0:13:12Andre embarked on a PhD into an obscure area of metals research.
0:13:14 > 0:13:18But he quickly realised there was little here he could make his own.
0:13:21 > 0:13:25The PhD subject was probably one of the most boring subjects
0:13:25 > 0:13:27one can invent, OK?
0:13:27 > 0:13:30It was really a ridiculous exercise
0:13:30 > 0:13:36trying to dig very deep into the area.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39It was not interesting to anyone,
0:13:39 > 0:13:43including some people like myself who were involved in the subject.
0:13:44 > 0:13:50But there was an upside - he learned skills that would prove invaluable.
0:13:50 > 0:13:55His supervisor, Victor Petrashov, noticed Andre's talent in the lab.
0:13:55 > 0:13:59He was an extremely quick learner.
0:13:59 > 0:14:03He learned how to make samples,
0:14:03 > 0:14:08how to grow crystals, how to mount them in a cryostat, everything.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12So, at the end of day, he got all the...
0:14:13 > 0:14:18He got all the skills to do professional research.
0:14:18 > 0:14:23While doing this exercise, I learned how to do all sorts of things -
0:14:23 > 0:14:29machining, microscopes, tiny, nice devices and so on,
0:14:29 > 0:14:34and this skill I picked up from Victor, who is one of the,
0:14:34 > 0:14:40probably, most green fingered experimentalists I have ever known.
0:14:42 > 0:14:44Andre had met his wife,
0:14:44 > 0:14:48fellow physicist Irina Grigorieva, at university.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51She recalls how he already stood out from the crowd.
0:14:53 > 0:14:58I remember people were saying then, and Victor Petrashov also said,
0:14:58 > 0:15:04that Andre has this very rare combination of very green fingers,
0:15:04 > 0:15:08so he can really do things with his hands, but at the same time,
0:15:08 > 0:15:10has a very, very good understanding of what he is doing
0:15:10 > 0:15:14and a very broad overview of things.
0:15:14 > 0:15:16So, it...
0:15:16 > 0:15:21Yeah, people said already then that he was quite exceptional, yes.
0:15:25 > 0:15:28Communist Russia regarded science as a vital asset.
0:15:28 > 0:15:31But at a time of deep economic hardship,
0:15:31 > 0:15:35research institutions were chronically under-funded.
0:15:37 > 0:15:40It's very hard to explain how bad it was,
0:15:40 > 0:15:45because that's the only... Wax and shoestring is the only...
0:15:45 > 0:15:51is the only description I can think of for this one.
0:15:51 > 0:15:53You need...
0:15:53 > 0:16:00something really minor, like a different type of screw,
0:16:00 > 0:16:03you won't find it, you need to make it yourself.
0:16:03 > 0:16:09You need a different type of glue, or any glue,
0:16:09 > 0:16:15it's a search which would last for a year or something like that.
0:16:15 > 0:16:19You need a piece of rubber, it's again...it's a whole problem.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25We had to do everything ourselves,
0:16:25 > 0:16:32starting from tiny soldering iron to some electronics.
0:16:32 > 0:16:35And it took time.
0:16:35 > 0:16:38And that was actually a huge problem.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42This is why ratio of scientists and supporting staff
0:16:42 > 0:16:45in Chernogolovka was one to five.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48So five people worked for one scientist
0:16:48 > 0:16:51to provide everything for his research.
0:16:51 > 0:16:56And this actually worked but some people were frustrated.
0:17:02 > 0:17:06Although Andre continued working in Chernogolovka after his PhD,
0:17:06 > 0:17:10staying in the Soviet Union was going to hold him back.
0:17:16 > 0:17:22But in the late 1980s, the Russian political landscape was changing.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26Economic and social reforms under Gorbachev
0:17:26 > 0:17:28gave many Russians new freedoms.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37More Russian scientists were able to travel on an exchange programme
0:17:37 > 0:17:38with the Royal Society.
0:17:39 > 0:17:44And in 1990, Andre was granted a six-month visiting fellowship
0:17:44 > 0:17:46to Nottingham University.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51The young Russian quickly made an impression.
0:17:51 > 0:17:55Yes, I remember very well when Andre first came to us
0:17:55 > 0:17:58on his Royal Society visiting fellowship.
0:17:58 > 0:18:01I mean, he's physically a large presence
0:18:01 > 0:18:02and he's got a very loud voice
0:18:02 > 0:18:08and he was a very memorable person when he first hit the labs.
0:18:08 > 0:18:12I've got a very vivid recollection of that in the mid '90s, yes.
0:18:12 > 0:18:16And Nottingham made an impression on Andre too.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21Its state-of-the-art facilities for researching semiconductors -
0:18:21 > 0:18:25devices that lie at the heart of modern electronics -
0:18:25 > 0:18:28were in stark contrast to Russia's underfunded labs.
0:18:31 > 0:18:33It would prove a turning point.
0:18:34 > 0:18:37I always try to be in the top tier,
0:18:37 > 0:18:42but without really trying to excel.
0:18:42 > 0:18:46How can you excel when you get such limited resources
0:18:46 > 0:18:48like wax and a shoestring?
0:18:50 > 0:18:52And then you go to Nottingham,
0:18:52 > 0:18:57then you immediately find out that you can compete
0:18:57 > 0:19:00and you can compete at international level.
0:19:00 > 0:19:08So it changed not only scientific possibilities,
0:19:08 > 0:19:12it changed sort of my whole perspective
0:19:12 > 0:19:16on what I could do with my life,
0:19:16 > 0:19:19I found out that, wow, I can compete.
0:19:19 > 0:19:24I can do something more what I'm trained to do.
0:19:24 > 0:19:27I can...yeah, I can realise myself.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31And that was the moment
0:19:31 > 0:19:37when I sort of switched from being in the top tier
0:19:37 > 0:19:43trying to really doing my hardest and trying to doing my best,
0:19:43 > 0:19:45trying to excel.
0:19:45 > 0:19:49Despite only having a background understanding of semiconductors,
0:19:49 > 0:19:52Andre threw himself into lab work.
0:19:54 > 0:19:58It was pretty clear that when Andre came to us he was something special.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01It was obvious from the very beginning,
0:20:01 > 0:20:03he was a really committed scientist
0:20:03 > 0:20:06who worked very hard, with a very good knowledge of the field.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09It was remarkable how quickly he moved from his subject
0:20:09 > 0:20:13that he did in Chernogolovka into semiconductor physics
0:20:13 > 0:20:16and become familiar with it very quickly.
0:20:16 > 0:20:21Andre brought his own unique perspective to the research.
0:20:21 > 0:20:25The main thing was that he was able to take some of our ideas
0:20:25 > 0:20:26and run with them himself.
0:20:26 > 0:20:29So I was always very interested at that time,
0:20:29 > 0:20:32and still am, on resonant tunnelling and Andre did some very nice
0:20:32 > 0:20:36experiments at lower temperatures than we'd bothered to do.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40So he was always able to find, to turn up some new thing
0:20:40 > 0:20:42and delve deep into it.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46And he managed to publish two papers in six months.
0:20:48 > 0:20:53For anyone, OK, especially as a post doctoral researcher
0:20:53 > 0:20:59to publish two papers in a journal within such a short spell of time,
0:20:59 > 0:21:02it was...it's an exception.
0:21:05 > 0:21:11It was becoming clear that he had to find a way of staying in the west.
0:21:11 > 0:21:15I think by the end of the period, I realised that there was no way back.
0:21:18 > 0:21:22So by the end of six months I started looking
0:21:22 > 0:21:25for post doctoral positions around.
0:21:25 > 0:21:30So, for me, I knew that if I like to work and enjoy work,
0:21:30 > 0:21:35I have to find a place where it's possible to work.
0:21:35 > 0:21:38And Russia was not an option at that time.
0:21:40 > 0:21:45At the age of 36, Andre applied for his first permanent position
0:21:45 > 0:21:47in Nijmegen in the Netherlands.
0:21:50 > 0:21:55His unconventional approach divided the panel that interviewed him.
0:21:55 > 0:21:57I remember quite well.
0:21:57 > 0:22:01It was sort of a controversial nomination I would say
0:22:01 > 0:22:04because, well Andre is not a standard character,
0:22:04 > 0:22:07so he definitely was different from anybody else.
0:22:08 > 0:22:11I sort of liked him and found him interesting
0:22:11 > 0:22:13and funny and intelligent,
0:22:13 > 0:22:16but there were also some other people who were very much in doubt
0:22:16 > 0:22:18that he was overdoing it
0:22:18 > 0:22:23and overselling himself, and some people shared my belief,
0:22:23 > 0:22:27so I was sort of torn between two opinions, either this is a genius
0:22:27 > 0:22:31or the others thought this may be the biggest miss in your life.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35And eventually I called other people to get the same advice
0:22:35 > 0:22:38and I roughly got the same contradictory advice
0:22:38 > 0:22:41and in the end said, "Well, let's just give it a try."
0:22:42 > 0:22:47Once installed, Andre had to adapt to the Dutch way of life
0:22:47 > 0:22:50and the constraints of the job.
0:22:50 > 0:22:56In some sense, when you are a post doc you are sort of like a buccaneer
0:22:56 > 0:22:58which goes for treasure hunts
0:22:58 > 0:23:01and you don't care about the casualties around you.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05Whereas, when you go in a permanent position,
0:23:05 > 0:23:07you have a bit different responsibility
0:23:07 > 0:23:10so you have to get used to that.
0:23:10 > 0:23:17He was expected to sort of fit in the existing structure
0:23:17 > 0:23:19and start contributing
0:23:19 > 0:23:22and I don't think that's what he wanted to do.
0:23:22 > 0:23:25What the group was doing, he wasn't interested in that.
0:23:25 > 0:23:28He didn't think it was worth his effort.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32He did not want to work on that,
0:23:32 > 0:23:35he wanted to work on something else and that wasn't possible.
0:23:42 > 0:23:47To make his mark, Andre needed to find his own area of research.
0:23:53 > 0:23:58The lab wasn't equipped to study any of his previous specialisms.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05But it did focus on the study of materials in magnetic fields
0:24:05 > 0:24:09and Andre was able to create his own research niche,
0:24:09 > 0:24:12investigating the behaviour of superconductors.
0:24:19 > 0:24:24Not a huge boom or big bang,
0:24:24 > 0:24:30it was a relatively minor niche area but it was new.
0:24:30 > 0:24:34It is attributed to myself.
0:24:37 > 0:24:41Repeatedly moving departments was beginning to pay off.
0:24:41 > 0:24:45Each time you move from one country to another country,
0:24:45 > 0:24:48from one university to another university,
0:24:48 > 0:24:55from one city to another city, you are forced by your life to adjust,
0:24:55 > 0:24:58to adjust to different environment,
0:24:58 > 0:25:01whether it's social or academic environment.
0:25:01 > 0:25:07And especially initially, you are forced to change your direction.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09You are forced to learn a new subject,
0:25:09 > 0:25:13you are forced to get some additional piece of knowledge
0:25:13 > 0:25:18and after a few times, it becomes sort of like riding a bike.
0:25:21 > 0:25:26And changing direction brought Andre his first taste of the limelight.
0:25:27 > 0:25:32He started to look for more areas he could investigate,
0:25:32 > 0:25:38and came across the idea of magnetic water -
0:25:38 > 0:25:41the claim that a magnet can change the interaction
0:25:41 > 0:25:45of water and minerals, helping to prevent limescale.
0:25:47 > 0:25:54Allegedly, when you put a magnet on top of your tap with normal water,
0:25:54 > 0:25:59at least some people claim that there is no more scale in your kettle.
0:25:59 > 0:26:03Andre thought that if this effect really existed,
0:26:03 > 0:26:07the place to test it would be in the lab's powerful high field magnet,
0:26:07 > 0:26:09so he did something radical.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12I just pour water inside the magnet,
0:26:12 > 0:26:16it's apparently not a very scientific experiment to do,
0:26:16 > 0:26:20it's pretty expensive equipment, and you won't find many scientists
0:26:20 > 0:26:23who will pour water inside their expensive equipment,
0:26:23 > 0:26:28and astonishingly, instead of water ending up on the floor,
0:26:28 > 0:26:33we found out initially small droplets of water levitating.
0:26:33 > 0:26:35To his surprise,
0:26:35 > 0:26:38the water didn't fall through the hollow centre of the magnet.
0:26:43 > 0:26:47Then starting putting whatever, from beer to wine to cheese
0:26:47 > 0:26:52to sweets to bread to tomatoes to strawberries inside magnetic field.
0:26:56 > 0:27:00They came home saying, "Everything is flying! Everything is flying!
0:27:00 > 0:27:04"Bread is flying! Cheese is flying! Tomatoes are flying!"
0:27:04 > 0:27:06So it took me some time to understand
0:27:06 > 0:27:10what they were actually doing. But they started with water,
0:27:10 > 0:27:12and then they found that everything was levitating.
0:27:16 > 0:27:20Andre recognised that this was diamagnetism.
0:27:21 > 0:27:25It's well known that everything in life is a tiny bit magnetic.
0:27:25 > 0:27:28But this phenomenon can only be seen
0:27:28 > 0:27:31when an object is placed close to a magnetic field.
0:27:41 > 0:27:44Until Andre put water in the high field magnet,
0:27:44 > 0:27:46few people believed diamagnetism
0:27:46 > 0:27:49could possibly be strong enough to levitate an object.
0:27:57 > 0:28:01People, even my peers,
0:28:01 > 0:28:05at some conferences where I presented this result,
0:28:05 > 0:28:07couldn't believe that.
0:28:07 > 0:28:11People thought, I think many of them thought it was a hoax
0:28:11 > 0:28:17and try to find out that it's manipulation of images and so on.
0:28:17 > 0:28:21Next, to make his point, Andre did something really bizarre.
0:28:24 > 0:28:28It was probably first time when I realise
0:28:28 > 0:28:32that it's important to add to scientific research
0:28:32 > 0:28:33a sort of wow factor.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39So you think it should be something alive,
0:28:39 > 0:28:45and frog was the smallest thing we could find to fit inside the magnet.
0:28:45 > 0:28:51My face couldn't fit inside the magnet by any means,
0:28:51 > 0:28:57it was something like that, a hole, and yeah, the frog was an image
0:28:57 > 0:29:02which catched the imagination. We tried many, many different things,
0:29:02 > 0:29:07spiders, grasshoppers, even hamsters,
0:29:07 > 0:29:11but the frog was both small enough and alive enough
0:29:11 > 0:29:14to appeal to general public, especially school children.
0:29:17 > 0:29:21That was very exciting time. It was very exciting.
0:29:21 > 0:29:24Of course, all the headlines and the papers,
0:29:24 > 0:29:28he liked that, I think he liked the effect of it, it was nice,
0:29:28 > 0:29:32but I think he liked that it was possible to make science
0:29:32 > 0:29:39so beautiful and interesting to so many people. I think he liked that.
0:29:39 > 0:29:41Watch how it goes in.
0:29:41 > 0:29:44Andre had hit on a winning formula.
0:29:44 > 0:29:47Again inside the magnet.
0:29:47 > 0:29:50Exploring ideas away from his core expertise could lead to
0:29:50 > 0:29:53attention-grabbing discoveries.
0:29:53 > 0:29:54Andre is different
0:29:54 > 0:30:01because he's a real, actual scientist of the 21st century,
0:30:01 > 0:30:07because, er, now we have to
0:30:07 > 0:30:13have more publicity to popularise science
0:30:13 > 0:30:20and say, in 19th century or 20th century,
0:30:20 > 0:30:26you could be a sort of monk, you could work with your science
0:30:26 > 0:30:30and you wouldn't care what other people think about it.
0:30:30 > 0:30:34Yeah. So, liquid nitrogen...
0:30:36 > 0:30:38So, without glass...
0:30:40 > 0:30:43Inside, no problem.
0:30:43 > 0:30:45APPLAUSE
0:30:45 > 0:30:48But Andre is different.
0:30:48 > 0:30:52He is sort of entertainer
0:30:52 > 0:30:56and showman - he likes this, he enjoys this kind of things.
0:30:56 > 0:31:00He enjoys doing things for public, and it's great
0:31:00 > 0:31:04and example is his levitation of frogs.
0:31:04 > 0:31:07The Physics Prize...
0:31:07 > 0:31:11Along with a colleague, Andre won an Ig Nobel.
0:31:11 > 0:31:16The Ig Nobel Physics Prize is awarded this year to Andre Geim
0:31:16 > 0:31:19of the University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands...
0:31:19 > 0:31:21A light-hearted award given each year
0:31:21 > 0:31:24for unusual achievements in scientific research.
0:31:24 > 0:31:27..for using magnets to levitate a frog.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33After accepting it, I think we both were proud
0:31:33 > 0:31:35that we had enough sense of humour
0:31:35 > 0:31:38and whatever it's called,
0:31:38 > 0:31:44the sense of self-deprecation, to accept this prize.
0:31:44 > 0:31:49Many of Andre's colleagues believed that no serious scientist
0:31:49 > 0:31:51should accept an Ig Nobel.
0:31:51 > 0:31:53I like to have fun in my life, OK,
0:31:53 > 0:31:58so sometimes I say there are few pleasures in our life,
0:31:58 > 0:32:03and three of them we know - good food, wine, and women or men,
0:32:03 > 0:32:07depending on your position in this world.
0:32:07 > 0:32:10But people forget about the fourth pleasure,
0:32:10 > 0:32:12it is pissing off your colleagues,
0:32:12 > 0:32:17and I had a lot of this due to Ig Nobel prize.
0:32:17 > 0:32:21Annoying your colleagues is one of the pleasures I would never give up.
0:32:24 > 0:32:26However irritating he might have been,
0:32:26 > 0:32:29Andre was now juggling several job offers.
0:32:31 > 0:32:39After six years in Holland, I already sort of acquired a reputation
0:32:39 > 0:32:45and had been offered several positions around the world,
0:32:45 > 0:32:48and Manchester...
0:32:48 > 0:32:51came as one of many.
0:32:51 > 0:32:55But it was special that...
0:32:58 > 0:33:01..people offered this position together with Irina.
0:33:03 > 0:33:06A job at Manchester University
0:33:06 > 0:33:10didn't just mean Andre could work with his physicist wife Irina.
0:33:14 > 0:33:18It offered him the scientific freedom to start his own lab
0:33:18 > 0:33:20and pursue the subjects he wanted.
0:33:21 > 0:33:23But it was a gamble, too.
0:33:25 > 0:33:31Every time you move from one place to another, you take a huge risk
0:33:31 > 0:33:36because OK, sometimes you don't get what you hoped
0:33:36 > 0:33:41or sometimes you get more than you bargained for,
0:33:41 > 0:33:46like I got in Nijmegen - in both senses, OK.
0:33:46 > 0:33:51But it depends on your confidence.
0:33:51 > 0:33:53I was confident enough that
0:33:53 > 0:33:56eventually I'll manage to build something.
0:33:59 > 0:34:01The strategy paid off sooner than he thought.
0:34:03 > 0:34:06Andre set up a system that became known as
0:34:06 > 0:34:08the Friday Night experiments.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11A deceptively casual-sounding arrangement
0:34:11 > 0:34:14to encourage his team to play with ideas.
0:34:14 > 0:34:19Essentially, it's never one night. There is a long process
0:34:19 > 0:34:23trying to accumulate knowledge to lead to experiment,
0:34:23 > 0:34:27you just don't press a random button, you just try to see
0:34:27 > 0:34:32what can be done. Even pouring water inside a magnet,
0:34:32 > 0:34:39it takes time to think that it's worth doing and why doing this.
0:34:39 > 0:34:40You need to acquire knowledge,
0:34:40 > 0:34:45and then settle down with the experiment you want to do.
0:34:45 > 0:34:49But, er, but essentially,
0:34:49 > 0:34:55it's very simple, quick experiments where you try to do something
0:34:55 > 0:34:57and when it works, you can proceed,
0:34:57 > 0:35:00when it doesn't work, you just drop it.
0:35:02 > 0:35:06It wasn't long before one of these experiments hit the headlines.
0:35:08 > 0:35:10It's the stuff of superheroes -
0:35:10 > 0:35:14walking upside down on ceilings and scaling skyscrapers.
0:35:14 > 0:35:15Well, move over, Spider-Man,
0:35:15 > 0:35:19because scientists in Manchester have developed a sticky tape
0:35:19 > 0:35:22so strong, it could enable man to do just that.
0:35:33 > 0:35:36Andre had been inspired by an article
0:35:36 > 0:35:40about the incredible climbing ability of geckos.
0:35:47 > 0:35:52The tiny hairs that cover geckos' toes attach to nearly any surface
0:35:52 > 0:35:55through a weak electromagnetic bond.
0:35:56 > 0:35:59The force of this bond is minute,
0:35:59 > 0:36:03but a million hairs working together create a very sticky foot.
0:36:07 > 0:36:10Andre wondered if he could design a material
0:36:10 > 0:36:12that would replicate this effect.
0:36:12 > 0:36:16The tape we produced, it was a small piece,
0:36:16 > 0:36:22square by square centimetre, it never worked as good as a real gecko,
0:36:22 > 0:36:25it got spoiled after a couple of attachments
0:36:25 > 0:36:30and we had to use very tiny pieces of the square centimetre
0:36:30 > 0:36:33to repeat this experiment many times,
0:36:33 > 0:36:39but it was a proof of concept that we humans, with our existing facilities,
0:36:39 > 0:36:43are at the edge of reproducing, mimicking nature.
0:36:43 > 0:36:47These scientists have proved the technology works -
0:36:47 > 0:36:50the next stage will be to see if this material can be made
0:36:50 > 0:36:53more durable and if it can be mass-produced.
0:36:53 > 0:36:57If they solve that problem, then people really will be able
0:36:57 > 0:36:59to walk up walls and along ceilings.
0:37:01 > 0:37:04Andre's playful new system was proving fruitful.
0:37:06 > 0:37:11If I looked back at the number of things I tried,
0:37:11 > 0:37:16at least I tried more than a single step, but three, four steps,
0:37:16 > 0:37:22it's a remarkable success rate, I think it's more than 10% for sure.
0:37:24 > 0:37:28Which actually tells everyone a very important story.
0:37:28 > 0:37:31When you are along this rail track
0:37:31 > 0:37:36and moving in the same directions, there is a very little chance
0:37:36 > 0:37:41to find something new, but when you scout into different areas
0:37:41 > 0:37:46your chances of success grow remarkably quickly.
0:37:48 > 0:37:50Being unafraid to explore new ideas
0:37:50 > 0:37:53lies at the heart of Andre's method.
0:38:00 > 0:38:01But there's nothing random
0:38:01 > 0:38:05about his knack of selecting those with real potential.
0:38:08 > 0:38:12He considers thousands of ideas and possibilities,
0:38:12 > 0:38:13and always refers them,
0:38:13 > 0:38:16"Is this really new? Is this really different?"
0:38:16 > 0:38:19And he's deliberately involved with finding it,
0:38:19 > 0:38:24and then jumps upon the one which has a high potential
0:38:24 > 0:38:29and that, I think, is not a general attitude of most researchers,
0:38:29 > 0:38:31I think that is sort of special.
0:38:31 > 0:38:36I think Andre, that's one of his really great strengths,
0:38:36 > 0:38:38that he can see those things that are promising,
0:38:38 > 0:38:43and that they would create new systems
0:38:43 > 0:38:46or would allow us to do something new.
0:38:46 > 0:38:49And again, I think it is based on
0:38:49 > 0:38:55his exceptionally good understanding of science and broad view of it.
0:38:56 > 0:38:59Crucial to the success of the Friday night experiments
0:38:59 > 0:39:03is a willingness to abandon ideas when they're not working.
0:39:05 > 0:39:10This is actually very difficult decision, to cut losses in science,
0:39:10 > 0:39:16because you are tempted to continue one metre deeper,
0:39:16 > 0:39:18one metre deeper, and deeper and deeper,
0:39:18 > 0:39:21maybe to the centre of the earth, sometimes people do.
0:39:21 > 0:39:27It's a practice that close colleague Kostya Novoselov has also adopted.
0:39:28 > 0:39:33The first thing which I learned from him
0:39:33 > 0:39:36that you need to be smart
0:39:36 > 0:39:41and courageous enough to say "OK, I was unsuccessful,
0:39:41 > 0:39:44"my model didn't work, this didn't work.
0:39:44 > 0:39:49"We should stop, and there are so may other ideas out there
0:39:49 > 0:39:53"that we can always find something new."
0:39:53 > 0:39:56You don't need to spend the rest of your life
0:39:56 > 0:40:00trying to push in this direction.
0:40:03 > 0:40:06It was a Friday night experiment that kick-started
0:40:06 > 0:40:08Andre's greatest breakthrough.
0:40:11 > 0:40:14As materials become thinner, their properties change.
0:40:16 > 0:40:18Andre thought it would be interesting to test
0:40:18 > 0:40:21thin pieces of the carbon material, graphite.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25I was looking for new areas to expand
0:40:25 > 0:40:28and looking for something new and interesting,
0:40:28 > 0:40:32and one of the many, many, I would say, ideas
0:40:32 > 0:40:35which was on the back of my mind,
0:40:35 > 0:40:40was trying to look for thin films of graphite.
0:40:40 > 0:40:43After weeks of trying to polish a sample down to thin pieces,
0:40:43 > 0:40:45one of the team had an idea.
0:40:45 > 0:40:51Suddenly, a mature researcher who was working next to us
0:40:51 > 0:40:56in the same in the same lab on completely different project,
0:40:56 > 0:40:59he said, "Why do you use polish?
0:40:59 > 0:41:05"Why you just don't use Scotch tape to peel thin layers?"
0:41:06 > 0:41:09Using tape to clean the surface of a graphite sample
0:41:09 > 0:41:13is a technique used in labs all over the world.
0:41:13 > 0:41:16Because the tape is usually thrown away,
0:41:16 > 0:41:20no one had looked twice at the layer of peel that was left behind.
0:41:20 > 0:41:24You see, it's on the surface, nothing spectacular,
0:41:24 > 0:41:30everyone knows that it's sort of material which splits.
0:41:30 > 0:41:37Then you put it together and make a fresh cut,
0:41:37 > 0:41:41essentially it gets twice thinner.
0:41:41 > 0:41:44So you make another cut, and so on.
0:41:44 > 0:41:49And then you ask yourself a very simple question -
0:41:49 > 0:41:53how thin you can make graphite
0:41:53 > 0:41:56by repeating this twice, twice,
0:41:56 > 0:42:01twice and so on, what the thinnest material can be?
0:42:05 > 0:42:07Under the microscope,
0:42:07 > 0:42:11the thinnest graphite flakes were nearly transparent -
0:42:11 > 0:42:13just a few nanometres thick.
0:42:17 > 0:42:20No one had ever managed to make graphite this thin.
0:42:22 > 0:42:25This was an experiment with real potential.
0:42:29 > 0:42:36I realised immediately that we can really make thin pieces of graphite
0:42:36 > 0:42:39and it would be a new experimental system.
0:42:39 > 0:42:44Whatever it will bring us, I didn't know, I didn't want to know,
0:42:44 > 0:42:48I just knew it's a new kind of experimental system worth studying.
0:42:49 > 0:42:53Very thin layers of materials are practically impossible to make,
0:42:53 > 0:42:57because as a system tries to minimise its surface energy,
0:42:57 > 0:42:59it pools into tiny islands.
0:42:59 > 0:43:02But for the first time here, they had a very thin,
0:43:02 > 0:43:06continuous layer of graphite that was stable.
0:43:06 > 0:43:08Graphene.
0:43:08 > 0:43:11Graphene is made up of a single layer of carbon atoms
0:43:11 > 0:43:14arranged in a perfect hexagonal lattice.
0:43:15 > 0:43:19It's so thin, it's the very first two-dimensional material.
0:43:21 > 0:43:24Once the team had isolated graphene,
0:43:24 > 0:43:27the next step was to see how it conducted electricity.
0:43:28 > 0:43:32When they applied an electric field to it,
0:43:32 > 0:43:34Andre and his colleagues were stunned to see
0:43:34 > 0:43:37significant changes in its properties.
0:43:38 > 0:43:42Essentially we could change conductivity
0:43:42 > 0:43:47through this bit of graphite, and for me it was eureka moment,
0:43:47 > 0:43:55because I knew how much and how long people during the last 100 years,
0:43:55 > 0:44:00essentially tried to make this so-called "metallic transistor,"
0:44:00 > 0:44:04and then suddenly, within couple of hours, after using Scotch tape,
0:44:04 > 0:44:08we managed to do this better than anyone before.
0:44:08 > 0:44:09And I thought, "Wow!"
0:44:11 > 0:44:14As technology becomes more demanding,
0:44:14 > 0:44:16scientists have been searching for a more efficient material
0:44:16 > 0:44:19than the semiconductor silicon.
0:44:19 > 0:44:22Metals were once thought to be ideal candidates,
0:44:22 > 0:44:26but their electrical properties proved hard to control.
0:44:27 > 0:44:31Now it seemed they had found the very first metal-like material
0:44:31 > 0:44:34that could be manipulated using an electric field.
0:44:36 > 0:44:39To be certain, the team repeated the experiment more than 50 times -
0:44:39 > 0:44:42and got the same results.
0:44:44 > 0:44:49They had uncovered the most exciting material in physics in years.
0:44:50 > 0:44:54The first finding that lead to absolutely great excitement
0:44:54 > 0:44:58was that it was possible to make this very, very thin film
0:44:58 > 0:45:00and it was conducting.
0:45:00 > 0:45:03It was possible to measure, actually, its properties
0:45:03 > 0:45:06so it conducted current, and it conducted current very well.
0:45:06 > 0:45:08It was stable, nothing happened to it,
0:45:08 > 0:45:13and you could tune its properties, you could tune its conductivity.
0:45:13 > 0:45:17I think that's when the excitement went through the roof.
0:45:18 > 0:45:22Andre and his team submitted a paper on their results to Nature,
0:45:22 > 0:45:26one of the world's most prestigious science publications.
0:45:27 > 0:45:30But it was rejected. Twice.
0:45:32 > 0:45:40One of the referees literally wrote, "This paper does not offer
0:45:40 > 0:45:45"much new and exciting things. Why should we publish it?
0:45:45 > 0:45:51"It can be published in a secondary, third year journal," so that was it.
0:45:52 > 0:45:54Andre refused to give up.
0:45:55 > 0:45:57The team rewrote the paper
0:45:57 > 0:46:01and got it accepted by Nature's main rival - Science.
0:46:01 > 0:46:04Its publication was just the beginning.
0:46:10 > 0:46:13The paper inspired scientists everywhere to investigate
0:46:13 > 0:46:16graphene's properties further.
0:46:16 > 0:46:20In 2010 alone, more than 5,000 papers were published worldwide,
0:46:20 > 0:46:24with Andre Geim's lab in Manchester at the forefront.
0:46:30 > 0:46:35The new research revealed just how extraordinary graphene really is.
0:46:35 > 0:46:38Its massless electrons never stop,
0:46:38 > 0:46:41moving at a 100,000 kilometres per second.
0:46:41 > 0:46:44They behave more like subatomic particles,
0:46:44 > 0:46:48usually found in space or a nuclear explosion.
0:46:48 > 0:46:51Before now, scientists needed something like
0:46:51 > 0:46:55a Large Hadron Collider to study these exotic physics.
0:46:55 > 0:47:00It is indeed like a philosopher's stone, or it almost delivers magic.
0:47:00 > 0:47:01It is truly amazing.
0:47:01 > 0:47:04It's so beautiful, such a beautiful system,
0:47:04 > 0:47:05the way in which the electrons move.
0:47:05 > 0:47:08And all in just this one system.
0:47:08 > 0:47:10Graphene is a wonder-material.
0:47:10 > 0:47:15This is graphene. Let's call him Mr G.
0:47:15 > 0:47:18It has so many superlatives to its name.
0:47:18 > 0:47:22What makes Mr G a really super material
0:47:22 > 0:47:25is the combination of his unique properties.
0:47:25 > 0:47:31G is the first 2D crystal ever known to us, the thinnest object
0:47:31 > 0:47:35ever obtained and also the lightest one.
0:47:35 > 0:47:40G is the world's strongest material, harder than diamond
0:47:40 > 0:47:44and about 300 times stronger than steel.
0:47:44 > 0:47:48G conducts electricity much better than copper.
0:47:48 > 0:47:51G is a transparent material.
0:47:51 > 0:47:55G is bendable and can take any form you want.
0:47:55 > 0:48:01But it's not just physicists that are excited by graphene.
0:48:08 > 0:48:12Its unique combination of properties have also sparked a race
0:48:12 > 0:48:14to exploit its commercial potential.
0:48:16 > 0:48:19Such an incredibly thin, yet conductive, material
0:48:19 > 0:48:22could have dozens of functions -
0:48:22 > 0:48:26like this flexible touch screen.
0:48:26 > 0:48:28A prototype has already been created.
0:48:32 > 0:48:35There's a lot of hype at the moment
0:48:35 > 0:48:39and some of those speculations will never work out,
0:48:39 > 0:48:44but there are so many possibilities. I would be amazed,
0:48:44 > 0:48:49purely by statistical chances, if this material wouldn't work out
0:48:49 > 0:48:55in a few areas where it would not disrupt the technologies
0:48:55 > 0:48:59that currently exist and wouldn't offer us something new,
0:48:59 > 0:49:01even as consumers.
0:49:01 > 0:49:05Andre and his colleague Kostya had revealed a new material
0:49:05 > 0:49:08that not only promised to revolutionise the study of physics,
0:49:08 > 0:49:11but also the world of electronics.
0:49:11 > 0:49:14I think what's lovely about graphene is that it's so simple.
0:49:14 > 0:49:17You know, you can explain it in one or two sentences -
0:49:17 > 0:49:23it's a single layer of carbon atoms all held together in this mesh
0:49:23 > 0:49:27that you can roll up, fold up and do all sorts of amazing things with.
0:49:27 > 0:49:30You don't need to understand quantum physics or Einstein's relativity
0:49:30 > 0:49:34to be able to appreciate what a potentially wonder material
0:49:34 > 0:49:36graphene could be.
0:49:36 > 0:49:39And Andre's wonder material seems to precisely fit
0:49:39 > 0:49:42his unorthodox approach.
0:49:42 > 0:49:45I think something in the discovery of graphene is also related
0:49:45 > 0:49:48to being provocative, just to show to anybody else that what you say
0:49:48 > 0:49:51cannot be, "Yes, it can be, ha-ha."
0:49:51 > 0:49:54That's sort of characterises Andre a bit.
0:49:54 > 0:49:56So it's the perfect discovery for him?
0:49:56 > 0:50:01Yes, fits the person perfectly...for sure.
0:50:01 > 0:50:04The discovery of graphene is one of those wonderful,
0:50:04 > 0:50:07quite rare occasions when you do something very simple,
0:50:07 > 0:50:14almost playful, almost trivially fun and yet make a profound discovery.
0:50:14 > 0:50:18Andre Geim won global recognition for his achievement
0:50:18 > 0:50:22and it wasn't long before the ultimate accolade.
0:50:24 > 0:50:27There was a telephone call,
0:50:27 > 0:50:31and a lady told me that "It's a very important call,
0:50:31 > 0:50:33"please don't hang up."
0:50:34 > 0:50:36And so I said,
0:50:36 > 0:50:40"OK, are you going to tell me that I've won the Nobel Prize?"
0:50:40 > 0:50:47The 2010 Nobel Prize in physics jointly to Professor Andre Geim
0:50:47 > 0:50:50and Professor Konstantin Novoselov.
0:50:53 > 0:50:55Apparently it was not in the script.
0:50:58 > 0:51:00It really came as a complete surprise for me.
0:51:00 > 0:51:03You could see it from my pictures.
0:51:03 > 0:51:09I was absolutely unprepared, unshaved and undressed that day.
0:51:09 > 0:51:15I was sitting on Skype to people in Holland,
0:51:15 > 0:51:18discussing some recent experiments
0:51:18 > 0:51:25when a phone call came from somebody with a thick Swedish accent.
0:51:25 > 0:51:31Immediately, he said, "You have 45 minutes of normal life left,
0:51:31 > 0:51:33"just spend it wisely."
0:51:33 > 0:51:36I now ask you to step forward to receive your Nobel Prizes
0:51:36 > 0:51:40from the hands of His Majesty The King.
0:51:47 > 0:51:50The Nobel prize is THE biggest thing you could get as a scientist.
0:51:50 > 0:51:54It's like having ten Oscars, every Oscar you could ever win.
0:51:54 > 0:51:58And of course, there's only one every year for the whole world
0:51:58 > 0:52:02in each subject so, yeah, it is absolutely the biggest thing.
0:52:02 > 0:52:05APPLAUSE
0:52:05 > 0:52:09I treasure other prizes as well, but within a few months,
0:52:09 > 0:52:15you realise that the Nobel Prize, indeed, is very special.
0:52:15 > 0:52:21For whatever reason it is, we don't know the reason how it's organised.
0:52:21 > 0:52:28It's probably the same like in the Olympic Games.
0:52:28 > 0:52:30There are many people who say,
0:52:30 > 0:52:34"It's important to participate, not to win."
0:52:34 > 0:52:36We know the winners.
0:52:36 > 0:52:41We do not treasure as much bronze and silver medals.
0:52:41 > 0:52:47Gold medal is something special, so in a sense, in science,
0:52:47 > 0:52:51it's probably ten times more important
0:52:51 > 0:52:53than an Olympic Gold medal.
0:52:57 > 0:53:00I think it changes your life, I think you suddenly become
0:53:00 > 0:53:05a media star, you've got lots of new pressures on you.
0:53:05 > 0:53:07People want a bit of the action.
0:53:07 > 0:53:11I think for weeks and weeks afterwards it's very demanding
0:53:11 > 0:53:15and you have to go to this ceremony in Stockholm
0:53:15 > 0:53:17and experience all this.
0:53:17 > 0:53:21Then come back to your lab and try getting back to work.
0:53:21 > 0:53:25MUSIC: "Swedish National Anthem"
0:53:33 > 0:53:37If you don't think that you are sort of competitive enough,
0:53:37 > 0:53:42you're probably not a good fit to be in the top tier of science
0:53:42 > 0:53:45and you would never win the Nobel Prize.
0:53:45 > 0:53:46So when you've got one,
0:53:46 > 0:53:51it's sort of a stamp that you are one of the fittest and then
0:53:51 > 0:53:55some people with a certain predisposition start thinking,
0:53:55 > 0:54:01"I'm a genius," or something like that, and other people think,
0:54:01 > 0:54:07"I have to prove that I'm worthy of this Nobel Prize,"
0:54:07 > 0:54:12and they start working like mad and go mad eventually.
0:54:12 > 0:54:16I think it takes strong legs to carry the burden
0:54:16 > 0:54:18of a Nobel Prize.
0:54:18 > 0:54:22Everything you say starts having a relevance
0:54:22 > 0:54:25which is far beyond what you wanted.
0:54:25 > 0:54:30That may make you crazy, that may make you overestimate yourself.
0:54:30 > 0:54:34APPLAUSE
0:54:34 > 0:54:36But despite the Nobel circus,
0:54:36 > 0:54:39Andre's eye is still firmly on research.
0:54:41 > 0:54:43It was a very short period,
0:54:43 > 0:54:46it's only one year gone since the Nobel Prize
0:54:46 > 0:54:51and it makes me wonder how disruptive the Nobel Prize
0:54:51 > 0:54:56was for research. Honestly speaking,
0:54:56 > 0:55:01I think 3 months out of this 12 months went into something else
0:55:01 > 0:55:05rather than research, but still there were nine months
0:55:05 > 0:55:08of very intensive research.
0:55:08 > 0:55:13We're still looking for this high temperature, room temperature
0:55:13 > 0:55:16and above super conductivity.
0:55:16 > 0:55:23It will probably remain for the rest of my life as a dream to fulfil.
0:55:23 > 0:55:26Andre will never rest on his laurels, never.
0:55:26 > 0:55:29The pace of his work is exactly the same as it was before.
0:55:29 > 0:55:32Another Nature physics paper out on Sunday,
0:55:32 > 0:55:35I know they're working on another big paper.
0:55:35 > 0:55:37I can't imagine he'll ever slow down.
0:55:48 > 0:55:50Initially forced by circumstance,
0:55:50 > 0:55:55Professor Andre Geim has developed a style of research that allows him
0:55:55 > 0:55:58to take risks and deliberately explore territory
0:55:58 > 0:56:00away from the mainstream.
0:56:05 > 0:56:10His playful methods and instinctive ability to spot promising terrain
0:56:10 > 0:56:12are backed up by clear thinking.
0:56:15 > 0:56:20Andre has this very rare ability to see the big picture,
0:56:20 > 0:56:23but at the same time, seeing all the small details.
0:56:23 > 0:56:25To use a metaphor, I think he can see the wood,
0:56:25 > 0:56:29the trees and the grass all at the same time.
0:56:33 > 0:56:37That I think is very typical of Andre. He finds something new,
0:56:37 > 0:56:39he doesn't stick to that thing,
0:56:39 > 0:56:44he situates it in its environment, in its history, in its content.
0:56:44 > 0:56:46He's also very fair.
0:56:46 > 0:56:52Everybody who did something in that direction earlier is recognised,
0:56:52 > 0:56:58he doesn't try to make himself better by ignoring his predecessors,
0:56:58 > 0:57:02and that makes that when the thing catches attention
0:57:02 > 0:57:06it immediately gets a momentum which picks up
0:57:06 > 0:57:08because the whole field is covered
0:57:08 > 0:57:13and that, I do think, is sort of peculiar for Andre.
0:57:13 > 0:57:16His method has borne extraordinary results.
0:57:16 > 0:57:20Geim can lay claim to seeding three new areas of research
0:57:20 > 0:57:25levitation, gecko tape and graphene.
0:57:25 > 0:57:29And he'd like more scientists to follow his lead.
0:57:29 > 0:57:31Everyone can do it.
0:57:31 > 0:57:35The way we are doing things is just too comfortable
0:57:35 > 0:57:41and we need to put ourselves out of the comfort zone
0:57:41 > 0:57:44and try to do something
0:57:44 > 0:57:49which we wouldn't think about doing a day before.
0:57:56 > 0:58:01I'm doing this because I'm trying to get new experiences.
0:58:01 > 0:58:06Jumping to another subject is another way of getting experiences.
0:58:06 > 0:58:10I haven't lost this childish attitude,
0:58:10 > 0:58:14trying to get as much as possible out of the world
0:58:14 > 0:58:17in terms of impressions and experiences.
0:58:17 > 0:58:24This is it. I'm not thinking about any legacy or anything like that.
0:58:24 > 0:58:27My brain is not dead enough for this.
0:58:30 > 0:58:35# I planned each charted course
0:58:35 > 0:58:41# Each careful step along the byway
0:58:41 > 0:58:46# And more, much more than this
0:58:46 > 0:58:52# I did it my way. #
0:58:54 > 0:58:58Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd