Two Russian-born scientists will share the Nobel Prize in physics for their work on a material that has the potential to one day replace silicon as the base material for modern electronics.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the $1.5 million physics prize to Andre Geim, 51 years old, and Konstantin Novoselov, 36, for 'groundbreaking experiments' on a new form of carbon known as graphene.

The scientists began their careers as physicists in Russia, and now work at the University of Manchester in Britain. Dr. Novoselov is one of the youngest Nobelists ever.

Their road to the physics prize began humbly -- with a bit of Scotch tape and the graphite found in everyday pencils.

Several years ago, while investigating the electrical properties of graphite, the Russian scientists needed thin pieces of the material. When filing down a piece of graphite didn't do the trick, they tried peeling off extremely thin layers using Scotch tape. It worked, so they kept peeling until they got to a material that was just one atom thick.

'Six or seven years ago, we stumbled on this new class of materials,' said Dr. Geim in a phone interview. 'You can't imagine anything thinner than one atom. We found its properties to be amazing -- very different from any other standard three-dimensional material.'

Graphene is believed to be the thinnest and strongest material in the world, more than one hundred times as strong as the strongest steel. It is virtuallytransparent, extremely dense and impermeable to gases and liquids. 'It's stiffer than a diamond. At the same time, you can stretch it like rubber,' Dr. Geim said.

In describing the science behind graphene, the Nobel committee on its website noted that a one-square-meter graphene hammock would be nearly invisible and also able to bear the weight of a four-kilogram (8.8 pound) cat. The hammock itself would weigh less than a single cat whisker.

Graphene also happens to be the best known conductor of heat and electricity. Experiments have suggested that electrons travel about 100 times faster in graphene than they do in silicon at room temperature.

According to Dr. Geim, that could make it an ideal candidate as a material for high-speed transistors used in cellular phones, for electrodes used in DNA sequencing machines, and other electronic devices.

Dr. Geim has Dutch nationality, and Dr. Novoselov is a British and Russian national.