STOCKHOLM (AP) – Three scientists in the United States (US) won the Nobel Prize in chemistry yesterday for their work on quantum dots – particles just a few atoms in diameter that can release very bright coloured light and whose applications in everyday life include electronics and medical imaging.
Moungi Bawendi, of MIT; Louis Brus, of Columbia University; and Alexei Ekimov, of Nanocrystals Technology Inc, were honoured for their work with the tiny particles that “have unique properties and now spread their light from television screens and LED lamps”, according to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which announced the award in Stockholm.
“Why does it matter, right, that we can make tiny particles that nobody can see, but they have colours?” said Pernilla Witting Stafshede, a member of Nobel committee that awarded the prize.
“This is actually used today both in medicine and technology. We have displays on TVs, in your cellphone, that use quantum dots inside to make just brighter colours.”
The suspense surrounding the academy’s decision took an unusual turn when Swedish media reported the names of the winners several hours before the prize was announced.
The advance notice apparently came from a news release sent out early by mistake.
Quantum dots’ electrons have constrained movement, which affects how they absorb and release visible light, allowing for very bright colours.
The dots are nanoparticles that glow blue, red, or green when illuminated or exposed to light. The colour they emit depends on the size of the particles. Larger dots shine red, and smaller dots shine blue. The colour change is due to how electrons act in more or less confined spaces.
While physicists had predicted these colour-change properties as early as the 1930s, creating quantum dots of specific controlled sizes was not possible in the lab for another five decades.
Ekimov, 78, and Brus, 80, were early pioneers of the technology, while Bawendi, 62, is credited with revolutionising the production of quantum dots “resulting in almost perfect particles. This high quality was necessary for them to be utilised in applications”, the
academy said.
“The community realised the implications in the mid-90s, that there could potentially be some real-world applications,” he said.
President of the American Chemical Society Judy Giordan said she was thrilled at the selection of the winners.
“What we care about a lot in chemistry is being able to make and tailor novel structures and architectures to solve problems that help people and the planet,” Giordan said.
Swedish media reported hours before yesterday’s announcement that the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences sent out a news release that identified Bawendi, Brus and Ekimov as the latest Nobel laureates.
Public broadcaster SVT said the release said the trio were receiving the prize for the “discovery and synthesis of quantum dots”.
After officially announcing the three winners, Secretary-General Hans Ellegren said the Swedish academy would investigate how the information got out in advance.
The academy, which awards the physics, chemistry and economics prizes, asks for nominations a year in advance from thousands of university professors and other scholars around the world.
A committee for each prize then discusses candidates in a series of meetings throughout the year. At the end of the process, the committee presents one or more proposals to the full academy for a vote.
The deliberations, including the names of nominees other than the winners, are kept confidential for 50 years.
