Updated 11:51 | Published at 11:49 am
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It was leaked in advance. But now the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences confirms that this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry goes to Alexei Ekimov, Louis Brus and Moungi Bawendi for their discoveries around nanotechnology.
Each one of them, through various experiments, the three prize winners have paved the way for nanotechnology’s smallest components, quantum dots, to now be used to, for example, illuminate computer and television screens and refine the light in certain LED lamps, according to the Royal Academy of Sciences (KVA ).
Alexei Ekimov started it all in the early 1980s. He succeeded in creating size-dependent quantum effects in colored glass, where he was able to show that the size of the particles affected the color of the glass via so-called quantum effects.
Soon after, the next laureate, Louis Brus, was able to show for the first time size-dependent quantum effects in particles floating freely in liquid.
Moungi Bawendi, in turn, took a necessary step for the quantum dots to become practically useful when in 1993 he “revolutionized” chemical manufacturing and managed to produce quantum dots of almost perfect quality, according to KVA.
The award winners were announced at a press conference on Wednesday morning. But the award made headlines already in the morning when KVA happened to send out a press release that revealed what is usually a well-sealed secret until the very end.
The FACT winners
Alexei E Ekimov was born in 1945 in the then Soviet Union. Became a doctor of philosophy in 1974 at the Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia. Has previously been chief researcher at Nanocrystals Technology in the USA.
Louis E Brus was born in 1943 in Cleveland, USA. Became a doctor of philosophy in 1969 at Columbia University in New York, and is now a retired professor and active at the same university.
Moungi G Bawendi was born in 1961 in Paris. Became a doctor of philosophy in 1988 at the University of Chicago, USA. Currently working as a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in Cambridge, USA.
Source: KVA
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