Giant Magnetocaloric Effect in<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"><mml:mrow><mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi>Gd</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mn>5</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:msub></mml:mrow><mml:mo>(</mml:mo><mml:mrow><mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi>Si</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:msub></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi>Ge</mml:mi></mml:mrow><mml:mrow><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:mrow></mml:msub></mml:mrow><mml:mo>)</mml:mo></mml:math>

An extremely large magnetic entropy change has been discovered in $\mathrm{Gd}{}_{5}(\mathrm{Si}{}_{2}\mathrm{Ge}{}_{2})$ when subjected to a change in the magnetic field. It exceeds the reversible (with respect to an alternating magnetic field) magnetocaloric effect in any known magnetic material by at least a factor of 2, and it is due to a first order $[\mathrm{ferromagnetic}(\mathrm{I})\ensuremath{\leftrightarrow}\mathrm{ferromagnetic}(\mathrm{II})]$ phase transition at 276 K and its unique magnetic field dependence.