Nobel Prize for Hard Drives

Well, actually it's the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physics awarded for the development of Giant-Magnetoresistive technology. Albert Fert of France and Peter Gruenberg of Germany were announced as winners for this work which has enabled the continued increase in disk capacities over the last decade. This should not be underestimated, as it's easy to ignore the fact that hard drives have increased in density faster than processors over the same period.
It's great to see contributions to computer systems (and storage - YAY!) recognized by the hard sciences, especially in one of the five original Nobel categories.

I'm rooting for Pixie Dust/AFC recording for next year, and racetrack memories (NewScientist Article) for the year after that!

[via Bloomberg and Associated Press]