The Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been given to French-born Moungi Bawendi, American Louis Brus, and Russian-born Alexei Ekimov for their work on quantum dots. In an unusual move, the names of the trio were revealed in the local press before of the announcement. The Nobel Committee expressed concern about the development and published a statement on the subject. Nobel leaks are uncommon, with the various prize-awarding academies going to considerable measures to keep the winners’ names hidden until the announcements.
The chemistry prize is the third of the season, after the announcements of the medicine and physics prizes earlier in the week
The trio was successful in manufacturing these tiny components, which “now spread their light from televisions and LED lamps, and can also guide surgeons when they remove tumor tissue, among many other things,” according to the jury. The names of the winners were leaked hours before the academy met to vote on the awards. Speaking to reporters, Nobel laureate Bawendi said he was “shocked” by the news and had not seen the leaked stories. Bawendi, 62, is a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States. He was born in Paris to French and Tunisian parents. Brus, 80, is a professor at Columbia University in New York, and Russian-born Alexei Ekimov works at Nanocrystals Technology in the United States.
The trio will receive the $1 million reward from King Carl XVI Gustaf during a ceremony in Stockholm on December 10, the anniversary of physicist Alfred Nobel’s death in 1896, who established the prizes in his will and testament. The chemistry prize is the third of the season, after the announcements of the medicine and physics prizes earlier in the week. Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman, RNA researchers, were awarded Monday for their pioneering technique that cleared the door for mRNA COVID-19 vaccinations. The physics prize was awarded on Tuesday to Pierre Agostini of France, Ferenc Krausz of Hungary, and Anne L’Huillier of France for their work utilizing ultrafast light bursts to examine electrons inside atoms and molecules.
The highly watched literature and peace prizes will be announced on Thursday and Friday respectively. The Economics Prize — created in 1968 and the only Nobel not included in the 1895 will of Swedish inventor and philanthropist Alfred Nobel founding the awards — closes out the 2023 Nobel season on Monday.