A SCOTTISH scientist awarded the Nobel Prize in physics said he only embarked on the work which lead to his breakthrough discovery because he was "young and stupid".
Professor Michael Kosterlitz shared this year's prize with fellow Scot Professor David Thouless and London-born Professor Duncan Haldane for their work on exotic states of matter.
He first heard the news when in an underground car park in Helsinki, Finland, responding :"Jesus. That's incredible. That's amazing. Thank you, this is quite amazing. Thank you very much indeed."
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He added: "It just feels a little bit odd, getting this news in an underground car park in Helsinki."
The three British-born scientists joined the brain drain to the US and made their discoveries while working for American Universities.
Prof Kosterlitz was born in Aberdeen in 1942, while Prof Thouless was born in Bearsden, East Dunbartonshire in 1934 and obtained his PhD in 1958 from Cornell University, New York.
The prize was given in recognition of work that opened the door to a mysterious world in which matter can assume unusual states unknown in nature.
The trio used advanced mathematical modelling to study strange "phases" of matter such as superconductors, superfluids and thin magnetic films.
Their pioneering research began the hunt for new exotic materials that may have applications in electronics, magnetic devices and quantum computing.
The citation at the awards ceremony in Stockholm said the award was for "theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter".
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Prof Thouless, 82, from the University of Washington, Seattle, will receive half the eight million krona (£729,000) prize money. The rest will be shared between Prof Haldane, from Princeton University, and Prof Kosterlitz, from Brown University.
Prof Kosterlitz put the research which earned him and two colleagues the prestigious award down to the folly of youth.
"It was a piece of work that I did as a very ignorant post-doc," he said. "Complete ignorance was actually an advantage because I didn't have any preconceived ideas. I was young and stupid enough to take it on.
"I'm a little bit dazzled. I'm still trying to take it in."
Prof Kosterlitz is currently working as a visiting professor at Aalto University in Helsinki.
Professor Sir Alan Fersht, Master of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge University, who was a contemporary of Prof Kosterlitz, said: "Mike was obviously an exceptionally clever guy.
"We went to physics lectures together in our first year, and he continued to specialise in physics in the second year while I specialised in chemistry. He was a very good physicist, and moved from the UK to America fairly rapidly."
He recalled how Prof Kosterlitz was a "mad climber" who practised his mountaineering skills in his room on Tree Court, one of the oldest parts of the college.
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"He build a traverse around the room where he would climb using his fingers and hanging on to the picture rail," said Sir Alan.
Professor Nigel Cooper, from Cambridge University's Cavendish Laboratory, said the prize was "richly deserved".
He added: "Through the great breakthroughs they've made, Thouless, Haldane and Kosterlitz took a visionary approach to understanding how topology plays a role in novel materials."
Prof Haldane revealed on Twitter that his UK roots came out when he was told of the award. He said: "I'm a bit British, or phlegmatic, about these things so I didn't faint or anything."
Jo Johnson, minister of state for universities, science, research and innovation, said: "David Thouless, Duncan Haldane and Michael Kosterlitz winning the Nobel Prize is a phenomenal achievement and recognition of their tireless work in the field of condensed matter physics. Their ground-breaking work furthered our understanding of rare states of matter that can help the design of new materials."
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