Dr Jagadeesh Subbaiah Moodera, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and winner of Oliver E. Buckley Prize, is Coorg Person of the Year, 2008.

The Kodagu-born Dr Jagadeesh, who did his Ph.D in Physics from Indian Institute of Technology (Chennai), led a multinational team of researchers for developing a novel magnetic semiconductor that will greatly increase computing power and flexibility of future electronic devices, while dramatically reducing their power consumption.

 Dr Jagadeesh emerged as the Coorg Person of the Year, in a poll conducted by www.coorgtourisminfo.com, Kodagu’s first news and tourism portal.

 The American Physical Society will shortly honour Dr Jagadeesh with the Buckley Prize for his cutting-edge research in magnetic semiconductor material, which is seen as a major step forward in the field of spin-based electronics – or “spintronics”, where the spin state of electrons is exploited to carry, manipulate and store information. Gadgets like laptops, cell phones and iPods already employ spintronics.

 Dr Jagadeesh went to the United States in 1979 after his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from Mysore University and Ph.D from IIT, Chennai. His wife, Dr Berera Gita Jagadeesh, is also a scientist at MIT.

 Among those who were nominated for the outstanding Coorg Person this year, include Chennai-based squash player Joshna Chinnappa, and Olympian athlete M.R. Poovamma.

 The past winners of Coorg Person of the Year include cricketer Robin Uthappa, researcher Dr Boverianda Nanjamma Chinnappa, and novelist Kaveri Poonacha Nambisan.

 www.coorgtourisminfo.com has been promoted by Bangalore-based journalist P.T. Bopanna.