A scientist from Russia became one of the Nobel Prize laureates in chemistry

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Munga J. Bawendi, Louis Brus and Russian native Alexei Ekimov. All three work in the USA. The prize was awarded “for the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots.”

Quantum dots are widely used in areas such as modern LED television screens, solar panels, and also in medicine – they can help surgeons remove tumors.

Among the laureates, Alexey Ekimov is a scientist who has been working as the chief scientific officer of Nanocrystals Technology Inc., USA, since 1999. Mungi Bawendi works at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Louis Brus at Columbia University.

In the early 1980s, Alexei Ekimov succeeded in creating size-dependent quantum effects in colored glass. His developments were continued by Louis Bruce and Mungi Bawendi.

Alma mater of Alexey Ekimov is the Faculty of Physics of Leningrad State University (Department of Molecular Physics). He has worked as a visiting professor at the École Polytechnique in Paris, at the Claude Bernard University of Lyon, at the Max Planck Institute and at Osaka University. He wrote more than a hundred scientific papers and was the author of several inventions, the discoverer of nanocrystalline semiconductor quantum dots.

In 2006, the scientist received the Wood Prize (together with L. Bruce and Al-Dr. L. Efros for “the discovery of nanocrystalline quantum dots and pioneering studies of their electronic and optical properties”).

“Quantum dots bring the greatest benefit to humanity. The researchers believe that in the future they will be able to contribute to the creation of flexible electronics, tiny sensors, thinner solar cells and encrypted quantum communications – so we have only just begun to explore the potential of these tiny particles,” the release states.

By mistake, the Academy of Sciences sent a letter announcing the winners ahead of schedule: journalists received the message at 7:30 local time, although traditionally the prize is awarded at 11:45.

Nobel Prize in Physics for 2023 handed over for the development of experimental methods for studying electron dynamics, in physiology and medicine – for invention mRNA vaccines.

Anastasia Larina