Three scientists from France, the United States and the former Soviet Union have won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the ‘discovery and synthesis of quantum dots’. They are Mungi Bawendi (France), Louis Bruce (United States) and Alexey Yakimov (Former Soviet Union). The quantum dot they invented is a very important element of nanotechnology. In the present era, this material is widely used in making LED lights, TV screens as well as removing cancerous tissue from the human body.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the names of the winners of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry at a ceremony in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden, on Wednesday. As announced, they will share the 11 million Swedish krona prize money of the Nobel Prize as jointly selected.
The head of the committee, Johan Acquist, said, “For a long time, no one thought that you could make particles so small.” But this year’s (award) winners succeeded in that.
According to the Nobel Committee, Mungi Bawendi was born in Paris, France in 1961. Currently he is teaching at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Louis Bruce was born in 1943 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. He is currently a professor at Columbia University in New York.
Alexei Yakimov was born in 1945 in the former Soviet Union. He is the former chief scientist at Nanocrystals Technology Inc. in New York.
In 2022, American scientist Carolyn R. Bartozzi, Danish scientist Morten Meldahl and American scientist K. Barry Sharpless won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2022. Last year, he received the Nobel Prize for his special contribution to the development of click chemistry and bio-orthogonal chemistry.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded the prize annually since 1901. Prize winners in each case receive a medal and 11 million Swedish Krona. The Nobel Prize in Economics has been awarded since 1969.