Sir Konstantin Sergeevich Novoselov ( rus, Константи́н Серге́евич Новосёлов, p=kənstɐnʲˈtʲin sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ nəvɐˈsʲɵləf; born 1974) is a Russian–British physicist. His work on

graphene Graphene () is a carbon allotrope consisting of a Single-layer materials, single layer of atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice, honeycomb planar nanostructure. The name "graphene" is derived from "graphite" and the suffix -ene, indicating ...

with

Andre Geim Sir Andre Konstantin Geim (; born 21 October 1958; IPA1 pronunciation: ɑːndreɪ gaɪm) is a Russian-born Dutch–British physicist working in England in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Manchester. Geim was awarded th ...

earned them the

Nobel Prize in Physics The Nobel Prize in Physics () is an annual award given by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for those who have made the most outstanding contributions to mankind in the field of physics. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the ...

in 2010. Novoselov is a professor at the Centre for Advanced 2D Materials,

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national university, national Public university, public research university in Singapore. It was officially established in 1980 by the merging of the University of Singapore and Nanyang University ...

and is also the Langworthy Professor of the School of Physics and Astronomy at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

Education

Konstantin Novoselov was born in

Nizhny Tagil Nizhny Tagil ( rus, Нижний Тагил, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj tɐˈgʲil) is a classification of inhabited localities in Russia, city in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, located east of the Boundaries between the continents#Asia and Europe, boundary ...

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, in 1974. He graduated from the

Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT; , also known as PhysTech), is a public university, public research university located in Moscow Oblast, Russia. It prepares specialists in theoretical physics, theoretical and applied physics, ...

with a MSc degree in 1997, and was awarded a PhD from the Radboud University of Nijmegen in 2004 for work supervised by

. Konstantin Novoselov uses the nickname "Kostya" (

diminutive A diminutive is a word obtained by modifying a root word to convey a slighter degree of its root meaning, either to convey the smallness of the object or quality named, or to convey a sense of intimacy or endearment, and sometimes to belittle s ...

of the name

Konstantin The first name Konstantin () is a derivation from the Latin name '' Constantinus'' ( Constantine) in some European languages, such as Bulgarian, Russian, Estonian and German. As a Christian given name, it refers to the memory of the Roman empe ...

Career

Novoselov has published 475

peer-reviewed Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

research papers on several topics including mesoscopic

superconductivity Superconductivity is a set of physical properties observed in superconductors: materials where Electrical resistance and conductance, electrical resistance vanishes and Magnetic field, magnetic fields are expelled from the material. Unlike an ord ...

( Hall magnetometry) as of January 2024 subatomic movements of magnetic domain walls, the discovery of gecko tape and

.^, Kostya Novoselov participated in the Graphene Flagship project – a €1 billion initiative of the European Commission – and was featured in the official promotion movie of the project. Novoselov was the first Director of the

National Graphene Institute The National Graphene Institute is a research institute and building at the University of Manchester, England, that is focused on the research of graphene. Construction of the building to house the institute started in 2013 and finished in 2015. ...

and sits on the International Scientific Advisory Committee of Australia's

ARC Centre of Excellence in Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies } The ARC Centre of Excellence in Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies (or FLEET) was a collaboration of physicists, electrical engineers, chemists and material scientists from seven Australian universities developing ultra-low energy elect ...

. Novoselov was also a recipient of a starting grant from the

European Research Council The European Research Council (ERC) is a public body for funding of scientific and technological research conducted within the European Union (EU). Established by the European Commission in 2007, the ERC is composed of an independent Scientific ...

. Kostya Novoselov made it into a shortlist of scientists with multiple hot papers for the years 2007–2008 (shared second place with 13 hot papers) and 2009 (5th place with 12 hot papers). In 2014 Kostya Novoselov was included in the list of the most highly cited researchers. He was also named among the 17 hottest researchers worldwide—"individuals who have published the greatest number of hot papers during 2012–2013". Novoselov joined the National University of Singapore's Centre for Advanced 2D Materials in 2019, making him the first Nobel laureate to join a Singaporean university. In 2021, he pioneered with Antonio H. Castro Neto a new research centre at the

called IFIM. With $200 million in funding over 10 years provided by the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

and NUS, the centre will work on making ground-breaking discoveries into what are called functional intelligent materials.

Awards and honours

* 2007 Nicholas Kurti European Science Prize "to promote and recognise the novel work of young scientists working in the fields of Low Temperatures and/or High Magnetic Fields." * 2008 Technology Review-35 Young Innovator * 2008 University of Manchester Researcher of the Year. * 2008 Europhysics Prize, jointly with Geim, "for discovering and isolating a single free-standing atomic layer of carbon (

) and elucidating its remarkable electronic properties."^, * 2008

International Union of Pure and Applied Physics The International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP; ) is an international non-governmental organization whose mission is to assist in the worldwide development of physics, to foster international cooperation in physics, and to help in the ...

Young Scientist Prize, "for his contribution in the discovery of

and for pioneering studies of its extraordinary properties." * 2010

, jointly with

, "for groundbreaking experiments regarding the material graphene." Novoselov was the youngest Nobel laureate in physics since

Brian Josephson Brian David Josephson (born 4 January 1940) is a Welsh condensed matter physicist and a professor emeritus of physics at the University of Cambridge. Best known for his pioneering work on superconductivity and quantum tunnelling, he shared the 1 ...

in 1973, and in any field since Rigoberta Menchú (

Peace Peace is a state of harmony in the absence of hostility and violence, and everything that discusses achieving human welfare through justice and peaceful conditions. In a societal sense, peace is commonly used to mean a lack of conflict (suc ...

) in 1992. * 2010 Knight Commander of the

Order of the Netherlands Lion The Order of the Netherlands Lion, also known as the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands (, ) is a Dutch honours system, Dutch order of chivalry founded by William I of the Netherlands on 29 September 1815. The Order of the Netherlands Lion wa ...

* 2010 Honorary Fellow of the

Royal Society of Chemistry The Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) is a learned society and professional association in the United Kingdom with the goal of "advancing the chemistry, chemical sciences". It was formed in 1980 from the amalgamation of the Chemical Society, the ...

(HonFRSC) * 2010 Honorary Professor of

* 2011 Honorary Doctorate from the

* 2011 Honorary Fellow of the

Institute of Physics The Institute of Physics (IOP) is a UK-based not-for-profit learned society and professional body that works to advance physics education, physics research, research and applied physics, application. It was founded in 1874 and has a worldwide ...

(HonFInstP) * 2011 Elected Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) * 2011 W. L. Bragg Lecture Prize from the International Union of Crystallography "... for his work on two-dimensional atomic crystals” * 2012

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised Order of chivalry, orders of chivalry; it is a part of the Orders, decorations, and medals ...

in the 2012 New Year Honours for services to science.^, * 2012 Chosen among "Britain's 50 New Radicals" by

NESTA Nesta (formerly NESTA, National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) is a British foundation, registered as a charity, which supports innovation. Nesta was originally funded by a £250 million endowment from the UK National Lotter ...

and

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

* 2012 The Kohn Prize Lecture “...for development of new class of materials: two-dimensional atomic crystals” * 2013 Appointed Langworthy Professor of Physics, University of Manchester. * 2013

Leverhulme Medal (Royal Society) The Leverhulme Medal is awarded by the Royal Society every three years "for an outstandingly significant contribution in the field of pure or applied chemistry or engineering, including chemical engineering". It was created in 1960 after a donatio ...

"...for revolutionary work on graphene, other two-dimensional crystals and their heterostructures that has great potential for a number of applications, from electronics to energy" * 2013 Awarded Honorary Freedom of the City of Manchester "for his groundbreaking work on graphene", see List of Freedom of the City recipients * 2013 Elected a foreign member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences * 2014 2nd place in the Discovery Section of the National Science Photography Competition. * 2014 included in a list of the most highly cited researchers. He was also named among the 17 hottest researchers worldwide – "individuals who have published the greatest number of hot papers during 2012–2013". * 2014 awarded the Onsager Medal. * 2015 elected to be a member of the

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of humanities, letters, law, and sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europe ...

. * 2016 awarded the Carbon Medal. * 2016 awarded the

Dalton Medal The Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, popularly known as the Lit. & Phil., is one of the oldest learned societies in the United Kingdom and second oldest provincial learned society (after the Spalding Gentlemen's Society). Promi ...

. * 2019 elected a foreign associate of the US

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the ...

* 2019 elected to be a member of the Asia Pacific Academy of Materials * 2019 Otto Warburg Prize and Lecture by The Otto Warburg Chemistry Foundation "for the discovery of the unusual quantum properties of one atom thick two-dimensional materials" * 2022 awarded John von Neumann Professor title. The title is awarded jointly by the

Budapest University of Technology and Economics The Budapest University of Technology and Economics ( or in short ), official abbreviation BME, is a public research university located in Budapest, Hungary. It is the most significant university of technology in the country and is considered ...

(BME) and the

John von Neumann Computer Society The John von Neumann Computer Society () is the central association for Hungarian researchers of Information communication technology and official partner of the International Federation for Information Processing founded in 1968. References E ...

* 2023 elected a foreign member of the

Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS; ) is the national academy for natural sciences and the highest consultancy for science and technology of the People's Republic of China. It is the world's largest research organization, with 106 research i ...

* 2022 Fray International Sustainability Award * 2023 Kublai Khan Medal of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences * 2023 Nano-Materials Science Award * 2024 Contribution to Knowledge Platinum Medal Award (joint with

) from the

Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) is a British engineering institution with activities including promotion of the development of materials science. It has been a registered charity governed by a royal charter and a member ...

National Graphene Institute

Novoselov led the academic team which overviewed the design, construction and launching of the

. He contributed with a number of unique architectural and technical solutions. The veil of the National Graphene Institute depicts formulae from his and Prof. A. Geim early works on graphene. Also, Novoselov confirms that among the formulae several scientific jokes are hidden, though he has never revealed them. He co-authored a book on the architecture of the National Graphene Institute.

Other projects

In 2018, in a project of exploration of the archives of the Jodrell Bank Observatory, Prof. Novoselov helped Prof. Tim O'Brian to transcribe radio transmission (most possibly simulated instrument reading) from the Soviet

Zond 6 Zond 6 was a formal member of the Soviet Zond program, and an unpiloted version of the Soyuz 7K-L1 crewed Moon-flyby spacecraft. It was launched on a lunar flyby mission on November 10, 1968, from a parent satellite (68-101B) in Earth parking o ...

received by radio telescope at

Jodrell Bank Observatory Jodrell Bank Observatory ( ) in Cheshire, England hosts a number of radio telescopes as part of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. The observatory was established in 1945 by Bernard Lovell, a radio as ...

in November 1968.^,

Legacy

* Novoselov International Materials Award - the award has been established in honor of the lifetime achievements of Prof. Sir, Konstantin Novoselov. The purpose of this Award is to acknowledge the extraordinary and groundbreaking scientific achievements from scientists and engineers in the field of Materials, within the FLOGEN Sustainability Framework. The Award Citation reads: "For Leadership in developing and applying new materials methods and technologies for a sustainable development in the environmental, economic, and social points of view". * Novoselov received a named plaque in the Bicentenary Way - notable alumni pavement at the University of Manchester.

Art involvement

Novoselov is known for his interest in art. He practices in Chinese traditional drawingJoint painting exhibition of Chinese diplomat, British Nobel laureate kicks off.
Xinhua, 29 September 2015 and has been involved in several projects on modern art. Thus, in February 2015 he combined forces with

Cornelia Parker Cornelia Ann Parker (born 14 July 1956) is an English visual artist, best known for her sculpture and installation art. Life and career Parker was born in 1956 in Cheshire, England. She studied at the Gloucestershire College of Art and Design ...

to create a display for the opening of the

Whitworth Art Gallery The Whitworth is an art gallery in Manchester, England, containing over 60,000 items in its collection. The gallery is located in Whitworth Park and is part of the University of Manchester. In 2015, the Whitworth reopened after it was transfor ...

. Cornelia Parker's meteorite shower firework (pieces of meteorites loaded in firework) was launched by Novoselov breathing on graphene gas sensor (which changed the resistance of graphene due to doping by water vapour).

Graphene Graphene () is a carbon allotrope consisting of a Single-layer materials, single layer of atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice, honeycomb planar nanostructure. The name "graphene" is derived from "graphite" and the suffix -ene, indicating ...

was obtained through exfoliation of

graphite Graphite () is a Crystallinity, crystalline allotrope (form) of the element carbon. It consists of many stacked Layered materials, layers of graphene, typically in excess of hundreds of layers. Graphite occurs naturally and is the most stable ...

which was extracted from a drawing of

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake has become a seminal figure in the history of the Romantic poetry, poetry and visual art of the Roma ...

. Novoselov suggested that he also exfoliated graphite obtained from the drawings of other prominent artists:

John Constable John Constable (; 11 June 1776 – 31 March 1837) was an English landscape painter in the Romanticism, Romantic tradition. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for revolutionising the genre of landscape painting with his pictures of Dedha ...

Pablo Picasso Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, Ceramic art, ceramicist, and Scenic ...

J. M. W. Turner Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 177519 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter, printmaker and watercolourist. He is known for his expressive colouring, imaginative landscapes and turbu ...

Thomas Girtin Thomas Girtin (18 February 17759 November 1802) was an England, English watercolour, watercolourist and etcher. A friend and rival of J. M. W. Turner, Girtin played a key role in establishing watercolour as a reputable art form. Life Thomas G ...

. He said that only microscopic amounts (flake size less than 100 micrometres) was extracted from each of the drawings. In 2015 he participated in "in conversation" session with

Douglas Gordon Douglas Gordon (born 20 September 1966) is a Scottish artist. He won the Turner Prize in 1996, the Premio 2000 at the 47th Venice Biennale in 1997 and the Hugo Boss Prize in 1998. He lives and works in Berlin, Germany. Work Much of Gordon's ...

during Interdependence session at

Manchester International Festival The Manchester International Festival is a biennial international arts festival, with a specific focus on original new work, held in the English city of Manchester and run by Factory International. The festival is a biennial event, first takin ...

Konstantin Novoselov Chinese painting 2015

He also participates in discussions on the relation between art and science. Novoselov believes that artists and scientists both rely on curiosity, willingness to learn and imagination: Novoselov is fond of Chinese calligraphy and drawing. He learned it from a prominent Chinese artist Zheng Shenglong. Nine ink paintings by Prof. Novoselov were shown at the exhibition "Britain Through the Eyes of a Chinese Diplomat" at the University of Leeds. One of his paintings is now in the collection of President of China

Xi Jinping Xi Jinping, pronounced (born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has been the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China), chairman of the Central Military Commission ...

. Novoselov participated in Viennacontemporary in 2017, where 5 of his works have been presented by RDI.Creative gallery. The paintings presented a range of topics, from the very traditional Chinese paintings to landscapes to contemporary subjects. It is claimed that graphene ink has been used in at least some of those paintings. In 2025, Novoselov curated an exhibition at

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

Personal life

Novoselov holds both Russian and British citizenship. He is married and has two daughters. He is an agnostic.

Political positions

In February 2022, he signed an open letter by Russian scientists condemning the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

References

External links

Interview in ScienceWatch on his research fields

Portrait of Novoselov and Geim following the announcement of the Nobel Prize

Selected research papers by Konstantin Novoselov and Andre Geim

Kostya Novoselov's art website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Novoselov, Konstantin 1974 births People from Nizhny Tagil British physicists Russian physicists British Nobel laureates Russian emigrants to the United Kingdom Russian Nobel laureates Nobel laureates in Physics Living people Russian agnostics Russian inventors Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology alumni Academics of the University of Manchester Knights Bachelor Fellows of the Royal Society Graphene Carbon scientists British nanotechnologists Russian nanotechnologists Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom 21st-century British inventors Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences Recipients of the Dalton Medal Russian scientists