Tunisian-American scientist wins 2023 Noble Prize for Chemistry
Tunisian-American scientist Moungi Bawendi won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, reports Reuters, October 4.
Bawendi alongside Cleverland-born, Louis Brus and Russian, Alexei Ekimov won the prize for “the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots”.
Prizes are awarded in Swedish capital, Stockholm asides from the Nobel Peace Prize which is awarded in fellow Scandinavian country, Norway. The prize is granted by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and is worth 11 million Swedish Kronas (1,002,100 US Dollars).
Bawendi, 62, was born in Paris and is the son of mathematician Mohammed Salah Bawendi. The scientist lived in France and Tunisia for a period of time before emigrating to the United States as a youth.
The 62-year-old received an A.B. (Bachelor of Arts) in 1982 and an A.M. (Master of Arts) in 1983 from Harvard University, one of the globe’s most prestigious universities. He is currently a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The Nobel Committee for Chemistry said in a statement. “The Nobel Laureates (Bawendi, Brus, and Ekimov) have succeeded in producing particles so small that their properties are determined by quantum phenomena. The particles, which are called quantum dots, are now of great importance in nanotechnology,”.
When asked during a press conference about winning the century-old prize, Bawendi said over the phone from his home in America, “I’m very surprised, sleepy, shocked, unexpected and very honoured. I didn’t think that I would get it,”.
The Noble Prize was first awarded in 1901 as Morten Meldal, Barry Sharpless, and Carolyn Bertozzi won the award for Chemistry last year.
The announcement of the award winners for Chemistry follows the announcement of the Nobel Prize victors for Physics and Medicine, released late last month.
The Noble Prize for Chemistry is often overshadowed by the prize for Physics as Albert Einstein is a famous laureate although prominent scientist, Marie Curie won the award for Chemistry as well as Physics in 1911 and 1903 respectively.
REUTERS
