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Andre Geim: Scientist with a Sense of Humor

By Shlomo Maital      

         I have taught in a leading science and engineering university for many years. The brilliant people here work hard, do great research – and they take their work very very seriously – even when it’s not.

          Consider Andre Geim,  British-Dutch-Russian Nobel Laureate 2010 for discovering graphene, a form of carbon one atom thick, that forms a strong light lattice and has infinite uses.

           Andre Geim is the only person to have won both a Nobel Prize and an Ig Nobel Prize. He received the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics for his groundbreaking work on graphene. In 2000, he received an Ig Nobel Prize for his work on magnetic levitation, specifically using magnets to levitate a frog.

            The Ig Nobel Prize is awarded annually at Harvard, and it recognizes research that…well, makes you laugh.  Geim won his Ig Nobel prize for ‘levitating a frog’!?  What is that?  It is based on diamagnetization – materials that have had their magnetic properties removed.  Here is how Google explains it:

        “By placing a frog in a strong magnetic field, Geim induced a weak magnetic field in the frog’s body that repelled the external field, causing it to float. This phenomenon is due to the diamagnetic properties of water, which makes up a significant portion of a frog’s body.”    Like poles repel, unlike poles attract. 

          The Harvard Ig Nobel people asked Geim if he would accept the prize.  He responded positively, with a smile.  Sure, why not?  Self-deprecation is not a known quality of Nobel scientists.  And his feat, levitating a frog, was very difficult and had important implications.  But – it does make us smile.  And Geim was happy with that.

               Let’s salute Andre Geim – and protest.

               Geim is Russian and emigrated to Netherlands where he became a professor.  He is / was a Dutch citizen.  He later moved to a British university. He now heads a UK Graphene Research Center. When England knighted him for his Nobel achievement, he was told he had to accept British citizenship to become Sir Andre Geim.  He agreed – unaware that Dutch law rescinds Dutch citizenship the moment a Dutch person accepts a foreign passport.  Netherlands revoked the Dutch citizenship of Andrew Geim, Nobel Laureate – and this greatly upset him, because he truly loves and is grateful to his Dutch adopted country.

               Andre Geim has a sense of humor.  The Dutch foreign ministry does not.  Nor does it have a sense of proportion.  The law is the law?  Do laws have exceptions?  Is this case worthy of an exception? You bet.

                Kudos to Andre Geim – the only scientist with both an Ig Nobel and a real Nobel Prize.