You may not be familiar with Professor Stuart Parkin, but you are probably very familiar with the technologies and online services that he made possible with his magnetic innovations. Professor Parkin is credited with expanding the data storage capabilities of magnetic disk drives and devices and setting the foundation for many technologies we use today. Spintronics, the physics field in which Prof. Parkin is a leading innovator, uses the magnetic spin of electrons instead of their charge to store data bits.

Giant Magnetoresistance

Parkin developed the application called giant magnetoresistance (GMR), by creating sensitive devices capable of detecting magnetic fields and increasing disk storage capacity by the thousands. His innovation made storing data in digital form possible and at a very low cost threshold. In its basic form GMR can occur when a thin layer of non-magnetic material is sandwiched between magnetic layers, causing the magnetic layers to react like bar magnets pointing north or south. Prof. Parkin advanced and simplified this concept by creating a spin-valve and magnetic tunnelling magnetoresistance.

Contributions To Technology Today

Today, his contributions have enabled applications like cloud computing and streaming. The Technology Academy of Finland (TAF), the organization responsible for the Millenium Technology Award, is quoted with saying that the innovation has led to the creation of e-commerce, social networking, and a myriad of other popular online sites and services. The direct quote stated:

“Parkin's innovations have led to a huge expansion of data acquisition and storage capacities, which in turn have underpinned the evolution of large data centres and cloud services, social networks, music and film distribution online".

Additionally, the Millenium Technology Prize is one of the largest and most prestigious technology awards. Every two years the award is given to an innovator whose innovations have sustainably improved the quality of life and well-being of people. Previous awardees include Tim Berners-Lee, founder of the World Wide Web and Linus Torvalds, creator of Linux operating system.

Learn More With Apex

To be in the know about magnet news, fun facts, and more, subscribe to our newsletter or visit the magnet facts section of our blog.