Better televisions and LEDs: Nobel Prize for quantum dot researchers

Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus and Alexei Ekimov laid important foundations for this field of nanotechnology in the 1980s and 1990s, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced in Stockholm on Wednesday. Quantum dots are used in modern screens, LED lamps and also in tumor surgery.

The structures, also called artificial atoms, are small and have very unique physical properties. They are interesting for use in so-called optoelectronics, for example in displays, photovoltaic systems and quantum computers.

Roughly speaking, the special thing is that electrons can only move within the quantum dots to a very limited extent. As a result, many properties of the quantum dots depend on their size. This makes the structures the ideal system for investigating fundamental quantum mechanical effects.

The names of the three winners were accidentally mentioned in a message sent to Swedish media that morning just hours before the announcement.

Responding to a request from the German Press Agency in Stockholm, the academy spokeswoman said no decision had yet been made on the prize winners. Members of the academy spoke to Swedish media about a mistake. It is tradition at the Nobel Prizes that the winners in the individual categories are always kept strictly secret until they are officially announced.

This year, the most prestigious award for chemists is worth a total of eleven million kroner (about 950,000 euros). The ceremonial presentation of the prizes traditionally takes place on December 10, the anniversary of the death of founder Alfred Nobel.

Since 1901, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to 192 different researchers. Two of them received it twice. Prize winners to date include eight women, such as Marie Curie in 1911, who discovered the radioactive elements polonium and radium, and researchers Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna in 2020 for the development of genetic scissors for targeted genetic modification.

The Nobel Prize winners for literature and peace will be announced on Thursday and Friday. The series ends next Monday with the so-called Nobel Prize for Economics, sponsored by the Swedish Reichsbank. (sda/dpa)