We already know the Nobel Prize winners in medicine and physics. The first concerned coronavirus vaccines, and the second was an ingenious method of capturing the rapid movement of electrons. Today, to finish with the scientific awards, it’s time Nobel Prize in Chemistrythe winners of which were Mungi Bawendifrom the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Louis Brucefrom Columbia University and Alexey Ekimov, from the US Nanocrystalline Technology Corporation. All of them were awarded for their roles in the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots.
The announcement was made at 11:45 Spanish peninsular time (and Swedish time) at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Just like yesterday, the person responsible for this was Hans EllegrinSecretary General of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
The winners will share a prize of 10 million Swedish kronor, equivalent to approximately 980,000 euros. Your research is definitely worth it. But why is this so important?
He quantum worldNobel Prize winner in chemistry
When we greatly reduce the size of things, their properties change. We are no longer in our world, but in quantum world. The same one that Ant-Man moves through thanks to Pym particles.
But the quantum world is much smaller than an ant or a wasp. This is a world that is invisible, but in which properties of matter change so much so that they are governed by their own physical rules. This is such an unusual world that in it a cat can be both alive and dead, as he explained then. Erwin Schrödinger. But the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry is not about this, nor about the fictional Pym particles.
Three laureates of this award played an important role in the synthesis quantum dots, particles are so small that they are governed by quantum properties. In other words, these scientists succeeded in bringing the quantum world into our macroscopic world.
The first to achieve this were Brus and Ekimov, who in the early 1980s managed to independently synthesize these very small particles. This is a very good thing; Because if two research groups do something independently, it usually means the discovery wasn’t due to chance. Then, in 1993, Bawendi succeeded optimize the method. This was very important because it was not a laboratory report; but finally it can find application in our daily life.
Why was this discovery made?
Bringing the quantum world into our lives has applications in a variety of fields, from electronics to medicine. For example, quantum properties are used to propagate light in modern television screens and LED lamps. This also contributes to the beginning of certain chemical reactions. It is even used for targeted illumination of tumor tissuewhich greatly facilitates the work of surgeons.
Without a doubt, these three scientists deserved the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. It is very important that science can have beneficial applications for humanity. It also helps save lives. There couldn’t be a better app.
Source: Hiper Textual
