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Oct. 5, 2011 The Royal Swedish Academy of
Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in
Chemistry for 2011 to Daniel Shechtman of the
Technion -- Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa,
Israel, for the discovery of quasicrystals:
non-repeating regular patterns of atoms that were
once thought to be impossible.
A remarkable mosaic of atoms
In quasicrystals, we find the fascinating
mosaics of the Arabic world reproduced
at the level of atoms: regular patterns
that never repeat themselves. However,
the configuration found in quasicrystals
was considered impossible, and Daniel
Shechtman had to fight a fierce battle
against established science. The Nobel
Prize in Chemistry 2011 recognizes a
breakthrough that has fundamentally
altered how chemists conceive of solid
matter.
On the morning of April 8, 1982, an image counter to the laws of
nature appeared in Daniel Shechtman's electron microscope. In
all solid matter, atoms were believed to be packed inside crystals
in symmetrical patterns that were repeated periodically over and
over again. For scientists, this repetition was required in order to
obtain a crystal.
Shechtman's image, however, showed that the atoms in his
crystal were packed in a pattern that could not be repeated.
Such a pattern was considered just as impossible as creating a
football using only six-cornered polygons, when a sphere needs
both five- and six-cornered polygons. His discovery was
extremely controversial. In the course of defending his findings,
he was asked to leave his research group. However, his battle
eventually forced scientists to reconsider their conception of the
very nature of matter.
Aperiodic mosaics, such as those found in the medieval Islamic
mosaics of the Alhambra Palace in Spain and the Darb-i Imam
Shrine in Iran, have helped scientists understand what
quasicrystals look like at the atomic level. In those mosaics, as in
quasicrystals, the patterns are regular -- they follow
mathematical rules -- but they never repeat themselves.
When scientists describe Shechtman's quasicrystals, they use a
concept that comes from mathematics and art: the golden ratio.
This number had already caught the interest of mathematicians
in Ancient Greece, as it often appeared in geometry. In
quasicrystals, for instance, the ratio of various distances
between atoms is related to the golden mean.
Following Shechtman's discovery, scientists have produced other
kinds of quasicrystals in the lab and discovered naturally
occurring quasicrystals in mineral samples from a Russian river.
A Swedish company has also found quasicrystals in a certain
form of steel, where the crystals reinforce the material like armor.
Scientists are currently experimenting with using quasicrystals in
different products such as frying pans and diesel engines.
Daniel Shechtman, Israeli citizen. Born 1941 in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Ph.D. 1972 from Technion -- Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa,
Israel. Distinguished Professor, The Philip Tobias Chair,
Technion -- Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
The Prize amount: SEK 10 million.
For further information, including backgrounders for the public
and scientists and links for further reading, see:
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates
/2011/press.html
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Matter & Energy
Chemistry
Physics
Quantum Physics
Inorganic Chemistry
Materials Science
Thermodynamics
Articles
Crystal structure
List of phases of
matter
Scanning tunneling
microscope
Materials science
Chemical bond
Chemical compound
Aperiodic mosaics, such as those found in the
medieval Islamic mosaics of the Alhambra Palace in
Spain (shown above), have helped scientists
understand what quasicrystals look like at the
atomic level. In those mosaics, as in quasicrystals,
the patterns are regular -- they follow mathematical
rules -- but they never repeat themselves. (Credit:
cbomers / Fotolia)
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