Data Storage & Memory · Recorded milestone

GMR hard-drive read heads

Recorded year1997

IBM's Deskstar 16GP reads bits with giant magnetoresistance, found by Albert Fert and Peter Grünberg in 1988, the first mass-market spintronic device.

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Built on

Quantum mechanicsRecorded · 1925enables
Hard disk driveRecorded · 1956enables

Led to

Heat-assisted hard drivesRecorded · 2024enables
Spintronic logic and memoryForecast · ~2055enables

Sources & evidence

Additional source

Dataset updated 2026-10-18. This individual record has not been separately re-reviewed.