"But what's important is to try to find the problem that other people don't realize is important and aren't working on."īawendi, who was born in Paris, was a student when he went to Bell Labs for a summer, where he met Brus, who became his mentor. "It's not that I'm a genius, I'm very far from being a genius," Brus said. In 1993, Bawendi revolutionised the production of quantum dots and improved their quality.Īmong other uses, the research enabled LEDs that shine more like natural sunlight, avoiding the bluish light they were previously shunned for.īrus is a professor emeritus at Columbia University and Ekimov works for Nanocrystals Technology Inc, both in New York.īrus was hired by AT&T Bell Labs in 1972 where he spent 23 years, devoting much of the time to studying nanocrystals. "It's a collaborative effort," Brus said in an interview at his home in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. "Remember what a TV was back then!" he said, laughing.Ī few years later, Brus extended the work to microscopic particles suspended in liquids. Speaking to Reuters on the phone, 78-year-old Ekimov, who was born in the Soviet Union and later moved to the U.S., marvelled at the latest flat-screen technology, something he did not envision during his work in the 1980s. "I could never have thought you could make these things at such a large commercial scale," Bawendi said in a press conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he is a professor.Įkimov was a pioneer, discovering that the colour of glass changes with the size of copper chloride molecules contained in it and that sub-atomic forces were at play. The quantum dot technology, which enabled high-definition QLED TVs sold by Samsung, Sony or TCL, traces its roots to early 1980s work by Ekimov. He added it did not affect the choice of laureates. "It was very unfortunate that the press release got out and we still don't know why it happened," said Hans Ellegren, the academy's secretary general. Brus said it was so unexpected that he ignored the first half a dozen phonecalls he received from people trying to break the news to him.Įarlier on Wednesday, the academy appeared to have inadvertently shared the prize winners' names. One of the "fascinating and unusual properties" of quantum dots is that they change light colour depending on the particle size, while keeping the atomic structure unchanged, said Johan Aqvist, Chair of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry.īawendi said he felt "very surprised, sleepy, shocked, unexpected and very honoured" by the award. The more than century-old prize is awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and is worth 11 million Swedish crowns ($1 million). "Researchers believe that in the future they could contribute to flexible electronics, tiny sensors, thinner solar cells and encrypted quantum communication," the academy said in a statement.
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