{"id":18845,"date":"2023-10-10T04:36:28","date_gmt":"2023-10-10T09:36:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=18845"},"modified":"2023-10-10T04:36:31","modified_gmt":"2023-10-10T09:36:31","slug":"3-scientists-win-nobel-in-chemistry-for-quantum-dots-research-used-in-electronics-medical-imaging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=18845","title":{"rendered":"3 scientists win Nobel in chemistry for quantum dots research used in electronics, medical imaging"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

STOCKHOLM (AP) \u2014 Three scientists won the Nobel Prize<\/u><\/a> in chemistry Wednesday for their work on quantum dots \u2014 tiny particles just a few nanometers in diameter that can release very bright colored light and whose applications in everyday life include electronics and medical imaging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moungi Bawendi of MIT, Louis Brus of Columbia University, and Alexei Ekimov of Nanocrystals Technology Inc., were honored for their work with the tiny particles that \u201chave unique properties and now spread their light from television screens and LED lamps,\u201d according to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which announced the award in Stockholm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The suspense surrounding the academy\u2019s decision took an unusual turn when Swedish media reported the winners several hours before the prize was announced.<\/u><\/a> The advance notice apparently came from a news release sent out early by mistake.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WHAT DISCOVERY WON THE NOBEL PRIZE IN CHEMISTRY?<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Quantum dots are tiny inorganic particles that glow a range of colors from red to blue when exposed to light. The color they emit depends upon the size of the particle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a>Scientists can engineer the dots from materials that include gold, graphene and cadmium, and create their color by controlling their size. The tiniest particles, in which electrons are most tightly confined, emit blue light. Slightly larger particles, in which electrons bounce around a longer wavelength, emit red light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chemists sometimes compare the size of the particle itself to a confining box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The underlying \u201cparticle in a box\u201d theory of quantum mechanics was first described nearly a century ago. But it wasn\u2019t until several decades later that scientists could manufacture quantum dots in a lab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 1980s, Ekimov, 78, and Brus, 80, honed the theory and developed early laboratory techniques for creating particles that emit varying colors by adjusting sizes. In 1993, Bawendi, 62, developed new chemical methods for producing the particles quickly and uniformly \u2014 which soon enabled a variety of scalable commercial applications, including in electronics displays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judy Giordan, president of the American Chemical Society, said she was thrilled at this year\u2019s winners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat 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,\u201d Giordan said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rigoberto Advincula, a materials chemist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, said the work helped bridge the fields of physics and chemistry, adding: \u201cThis technology is very easy to reproduce \u2014 that\u2019s why it became so popular and so widespread.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today quantum dots are commonly used in electronics displays and biomedical imaging. The florescent quality of the particles allows researchers to track how drugs are delivered within the human body, as well as to study the precise location and growth of a tumor, for example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WERE THE WINNERS ANNOUNCED PREMATURELY?<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Swedish media reported hours before Wednesday\u2019s announcement that the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences had sent out a news release that identified Bawendi, Brus and Ekimov as the latest Nobel laureates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public broadcaster SVT said the release said they were receiving the prize for the \u201cdiscovery and synthesis of quantum dots.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After officially announcing the three winners, Secretary-General Hans Ellegren said the Swedish academy would investigate how the information got out in advance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere was a press release sent out for still unknown reasons. We have been very active this morning to find out exactly what happened,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is very unfortunate and we deeply regret what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A committee for each prize then discusses candidates in a series of meetings before presenting 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HOW DID THE WINNERS REACT?<\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Bawendi told a news conference he was \u201cvery surprised, sleepy, shocked, unexpected and very honored.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked about the leak, he said he didn\u2019t know he\u2019d been made a Nobel laureate until he was called by the academy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bawendi said he was not thinking about the possible applications of his work when he started researching quantum dots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe motivation really is the basic science. A basic understanding, the curiosity of how does the world work? And that\u2019s what drives scientists and academic scientists to do what they do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brus, a professor emeritus at Columbia, said he didn\u2019t pick up the phone when the early morning call came from the Swedish academy to notify him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was ringing during the night, but I didn\u2019t answer it because I\u2019m trying to get some sleep, basically,\u201d he told The Associated Press. He finally saw the news online when he got up around 6 a.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI certainly was not expecting this,\u201d Brus said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brus said he was glad to see recognition for the area of chemistry he practices. The practical applications of quantum dots, like creating the colors in flat-screen TVs, are something he was hoping for when he started the work decades ago, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBasic research is extremely hard to predict exactly how it\u2019s going to work out,\u201d Brus said. \u201cIt\u2019s more for the knowledge base than it is for the actual materials. But in this case, it\u2019s both.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ekimov agreed, crediting the scientific curiosity that was instilled in him as a student and researcher in the Soviet Union in the 1980s for some of his success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBack then, it was a career based on curiosity, not for making money or anything else,\u201d said Ekimov, the former chief scientist at New York-based Nanocrystals Technology, where he began working in 1999 after immigrating to the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday, the physics prize went to French-Swedish physicist Anne L\u2019Huillier, French scientist Pierre Agostini and Hungarian-born Ferenc Krausz for producing the first split-second glimpse into the super-fast world of spinning electrons<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Monday, Hungarian-American Katalin Karik\u00f3 and American Drew Weissman won the Nobel Prize in medicine<\/u><\/a> for discoveries that enabled the creation of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prizes in literature, peace and economics follow, with one announcement every weekday until Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Nobel Prizes carry\u00a0a cash award<\/u><\/a>\u00a0of 11 million Swedish kronor ($1 million) from a bequest left by the prize\u2019s creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STOCKHOLM (AP) \u2014 Three scientists won the Nobel Prize in chemistry Wednesday for their work on quantum dots \u2014 tiny particles just a few nanometers in diameter that can release very bright colored light and whose applications in everyday life include electronics and medical imaging. Moungi Bawendi of MIT, Louis Brus of Columbia University, and Alexei Ekimov […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":18846,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5783],"tags":[23198,23197,23201,23199,23200,7371],"class_list":["post-18845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sci-tech","tag-electronics","tag-fields","tag-medical-imaging","tag-nobel-prize-in-chemistry","tag-quantum-dots","tag-scientists"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18845"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18845\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18847,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18845\/revisions\/18847"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}