The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded on Wednesday to Moungi G. Bawendi, Louis E. Brus and Alexei I. Ekimov for being pioneers of the nanoworld. The new laureates discovered and developed quantum dots, semiconductors made of particles squeezed so small that their electrons barely have room to breathe.
Semiconductors are crystals that help power our electronics. But while traditional crystals may be quite large at the molecular level, a quantum dot consists of just a few thousand atoms squished into a space just a few nanometers across. The difference in size between a quantum dot and a soccer ball is about the same as the difference between a soccer ball and the Earth, the Nobel Foundation said.
“For a long time, nobody thought you could ever actually make such small particles,” Johan Aqvist, the chair of the Academy’s Nobel committee for chemistry, said at the news conference announcing the 2023 laureates. Presenting the topic with five colorful flasks lined up in front of him, which he said contained quantum dots in a liquid solution, he said: “But this year’s laureates succeeded.”
The news of the laureates’ expected win had been reported earlier Wednesday morning in the Swedish news media, a highly unusual leak that was then reported by Reuters and The Associated Press several hours before the official announcement by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awards the prize.
The Swedish news outlets cited what they said was an email from the Academy that had been mistakenly sent early. Reuters quoted Dr. Aqvist as saying, “It is a mistake by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.” He noted that the committee’s meeting was due to start at 9:30 a.m. local time (3:30 a.m. Eastern) and added, “so no decision has been made yet. The winners have not been selected.”
Who are the winners?
Dr. Bawendi, born in 1961 in France, is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and used to study under Dr. Brus as a postdoctoral researcher.
Dr. Brus, born in 1943 in Cleveland, is a professor emeritus at Columbia University.
Dr. Ekimov, born in 1945 in the former Soviet Union, was previously the chief scientist at Nanocrystals Technology, a company based in New York.
Why did the committee say they received the prize?
Electrons exist at fixed distances from an atom’s nucleus, with higher energy levels corresponding to greater distances.When atoms get energized, their electrons temporarily jump to greater distances and higher levels. When they fall back down, the electrons release the extra energy as light.
A basic principle of quantum mechanics is that objects can behave like particles or like waves. The same holds true for electrons: Like other types of waves, they have a frequency that relates to the color of light they release. Scientists have known since the 1930s that squeezing atoms into a tiny enough “container” could increase the frequency of their electrons and change the type of light the material absorbs or emits. That container is a crystal, called a quantum dot because it triggers the wavelike behavior theorized by quantum mechanics.
But that thought stayed theoretical, because scientists didn’t know how to squeeze a material to the point where such quantum effects would take over. In the 1970s, Dr. Ekimov began studying how colored glass could differ in hue depending on how long it was heated. He found that when heated, copper chloride crystals formed inside the glass. The smaller the crystals, the bluer the glass appeared. Independently, Dr. Brus discovered the same effect using cadmium sulfide crystals.
These were the first observations of a quantum effect that depended on size, rather than the elemental makeup of the material. Still, scientists had to figure out how to control this effect to harness it for real-world applications.
In the 1990s, Dr. Bawendi figured out how to produce quantum dots that had superb optical quality. They had to be made in solution “with exquisite control of their size and surface,” Dr. Aqvist said. Dr. Bawendi, he added, invented an ingenious chemical method “for doing just this.” The breakthrough revolutionized technology in medicine and our everyday electronics.
Quantum dots are now used to tune the colors in LED lights and increase the resolution of television screens. They can also be used as fluorescent imaging tools in biomedical applications, such as identifying cancerous tissue. Quantum dots are expected to lead to advances in electronics, solar cells and encrypted quantum information.
How do their colleagues describe their work?
Judith Giordan, president of the American Chemical Society, described their work as “a magnificent example” of something that began as a theory, was perfected in academic labs and then brought forward into the world for useful applications.
“This isn’t just esoteric science,” she said. “This is meant to help people.”
According to Dr. Giordan, quantum dots enable the tiniest of pixel sizes that lead to ultrahigh definition TV screens. They also give us a wide range of color temperatures in the bulbs that light our homes. Early research from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory indicates that quantum dots may pave the way for a doubling of the efficiency of currently used solar panels.
“People are unaware of how these sorts of inventions come along,” said Jonathan Owens, a chemist at Columbia and collaborator with Dr. Brus. “The Nobel Prize is obviously a great way to highlight that for society.”
He added that Dr. Brus’ discovery was a perfect example of “curiosity-driven work.”
William Tisdale, a chemical engineer at M.I.T., described Dr. Bawendi’s prizewinning results as “a legendary paper in our field,” and a “key enabling advance, after which the field of quantum dots exploded.”
What did the laureates say about winning the prize?
Dr. Bawendi said he was sound asleep when he got the call.
“I wasn’t sure it was true,” he said in an interview with the Nobel Foundation. “It’s quite an honor and quite a surprise.”
He added that the honor was complemented by sharing the prize with his former mentor, Dr. Brus. “He molded me as a scientist,” Dr. Bawendi said.
Before the announcement, Dr. Bawendi was scheduled to teach a 9 a.m. class on introductory quantum mechanics at M.I.T. But the lesson ended up being about his career leading up to the Nobel Prize. Of the day’s chaos, he said, “I’m just going to let it ride.”
Dr. Ekimov described feeling a bit disoriented when he heard the news, and his satisfaction that the work was being recognized. He recalled learning about quantum mechanics as a young student two decades before the observations that led to the Nobel Prize. “It was not surprising,” he said of the discovery, adding that it had been their hope “to make an experimental confirmation” of the already well-established theory.
Dr. Brus said in an interview that his phone had kept ringing as he tried to sleep. When he finally called back, he found out from a Miami TV station that he had won the Nobel. Then he checked online to make sure it wasn’t a prank.
“I had forgotten that today is the chemistry Nobel Prize day,” said Dr. Brus, who added that it “feels surreal.” His first thoughts were of the many collaborators who helped realize the discovery. “I represent a big community who worked on this,” he said.
When the fanfare dies down, Dr. Brus plans to celebrate with his family. “They’re just jumping up and down, as you can imagine,” he said.
Who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2022?
The prize went to Carolyn R. Bertozzi, Morten Meldal and K. Barry Sharpless for work on click chemistry.
Who else has received a Nobel Prize in the sciences this year?
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On Monday, the prize in Physiology or Medicine went to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman for a chemical modification to messenger RNA. The tweak led to the successful development of Covid-19 vaccines and saved millions of lives. Dr. Karikó is the 13th woman to win the Nobel Prize in this category.
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On Tuesday, the prize in Physics was awarded to Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier for techniques that illuminate the subatomic realm of electrons. Dr. L’Huillier is the fifth woman to be chosen for a Nobel in this category.
When will the other Nobel Prizes be announced?
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The Nobel Prize in Literature will be awarded on Thursday by the Swedish Academy in Stockholm. Last year, Annie Ernaux was given the prize for work that dissected the most humiliating, private and scandalous moments from her past with almost clinical precision.
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The Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded on Friday by the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo. Last year, the prize was shared by Memorial, a Russian organization; the Center for Civil Liberties in Ukraine; and Ales Bialiatski, a jailed Belarusian activist.
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Next week, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will be awarded on Monday by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm. Last year, Ben S. Bernanke, Douglas W. Diamond and Philip H. Dybvig shared the prize, for work that helped to reshape how the world understands the relationship between banks and financial crises.
All of the prize announcements are streamed live by the Nobel Prize organization.
