Stuart Parkin, IBM, Doctorate of the University of Kaiserslautern

On June 3rd, an Honorary Doctorate is awarded to Professor Dr. Stuart S.P. Parkin (IBM Almaden Research Center, USA) by the University of Kaiserslautern for his outstanding research contributions to the science and industrial application of spintronics.

Spintronics has become incorporated into everyday life – particularly in computer HDDs whose high storage capacities would not be possible without the GMR that was co-discovered by Parkin. Next to computer technology spintronics is relevant for all applications that include magnetic sensors, e.g. sensors of the anti-lock brake system in cars.

The pivotal founders of spintronics are Albert Fert, Peter Grünberg and, the very Stuart Parkin. Together, they have received many international awards. Albert Fert, who also holds an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Kaiserslautern, and Peter Grünberg obtained in 2007 the Nobel Prize for the fundamental scientific aspects of the phenomenon known as the GMR Effect, typically referred to as GMR Effect. The particular achievement of Stuart Parkin was the development of layer systems for the GMR Effect which could be produced industrially. Only as a result of this industrial applications of the physical phenomenon became possible. A subsequent milestone was the discovery and utilization of the Tunnel Magneto Resistance Effect (TMR) by Parkin, simultaneously with Japanese scientists. All reading heads of computer HDDs are based on the TMR principle. Parkin is currently in the process of developing another revolutionary concept, the Racetrack-Memory. This allows for the three dimensional saving of data and therefore, another tremendous increase in the storage density of a computer chip.

 Stuart S.P. Parkin (born in 1955), a British-American experimental physicist holds, as an IBM Fellow, the highest technical and scientific position at IBM. Since 1982 he has been head of the Magneto-Electronics Research Group of the IBM Almaden Research Center, which is essentially the centerpiece of the success of the Californian Silicon Valley. Parkin is also the director of the joint Spintronic Science and Applications Center of IBM and Stanford University. Numerous awards and honorary doctorates have already been bestowed upon Professor Parkin. In 2008 he was awarded the Gutenberg Research Award of the Graduate School of Excellence in Materials Science in Mainz (MAINZ) which is run through a co-operation between the Universities of Kaiserslautern and Mainz. Since then he has been working closely with scientists and PhD students from Kaiserslautern and Mainz. With this Honorary Doctorate the Physics Department of the University of Kaiserslautern is further strengthening its thematic focus in the field of spin research.

The Honorary Doctorate was awarded to Professor Parkin at a festive ceremony to mark the occasion by the Dean of the Department of Physics, Professor Dr. Volker Schünemann. The University’s president, Professor Dr. Helmut J. Schmidt, delivered a welcome address and Professor Parkin gave a lecture entitled The Spin on Electronics! Science and Technology of Spin Currents in Nano Materials and Nano Devices.