Max Planck researcher makes list of Nature's 10

Science magazine honours Mikhail Eremets for his work on superconductivity

The renowned science magazine Nature has included Mikhail Eremets from the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry in its Top Ten List of "People who mattered this year" for his fundamental research in the field of high-pressure chemistry and the discovery of superconductivity of hydrogen sulfide at record temperatures.

Mikhail Eremets heads the Research Group for high pressure chemistry and physics at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, which has been supported by an Advanced Grant of the European Research Council (ERC) since 2011. In his Nature paper published in summer 2015, Eremets describes how hydrogen sulfide resistance conducts electricity at minus 70 degrees Celsius and at a pressure of 1.5 million bar. Thus, the 66-year-old researcher in Mainz, together with his team, has not only set a record for superconductivity, but also shown a new way in which electricity could be transported at room temperature without loss.

"Thanks to his persistence in high-pressure physics, Mikhael Eremets has ultimately struck gold when he discovered the hydrogen sulfide system high-temperature superconductivity - a very exciting development in this field,"  Nature said in its statement on its Top Ten selection.  

The Rome International Center for Materials Science of Superstripes (RICMASS) took Eremets research achievements as an opportunity to honour him with a distinction. On 17 December in Rome, it awarded him with the Ugo Fano gold medal. In addition, the magazine Physics World placed the latest research findings of Mikhail Eremets on its list of "Top Ten Breakthroughs of 2015".

Further information: Superconductivity: No resistance at record temperatures.