Lucid Moments: the nanoSteps Tech Blog!
2008 Jul 20: The 2008 Kavli Prize in Nanoscience
On May 28, 2008, the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters announced the winners of the first biennial Kavli Prizes. The three prizes, in Astrophysics, Nanoscience, and Neuroscience, are each worth one million dollars (US), the money to be shared by the winners of each prize.
The seven pioneering scientists who share these inaugural prizes are:
Astrophysics: Awarded jointly to Maarten Schmidt, of the California Institute of Technology, US, and Donald Lynden-Bell, of Cambridge University.
Nanoscience: Shared by Louis E. Brus, of Columbia University, US, and Sumio Iijima, of Meijo University in Japan.
Neuroscience: Awarded to Pasko Rakic, of the Yale University School of Medicine, US, Thomas Jessell, of Columbia University, US, and Sten Grillner, of the Karolinska Institute in Sweden.
Since this website is devoted to information about nanoscience and nanotechnology, I'll discuss the winners of the Kavli Prize in Nanoscience. For information on all the prizes and the winners, see the Kavli Foundation website.
According to the Kavli Foundation website, the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters has awarded the Kavli Prize in Nanoscience for 2008 to Louis E. Brus and Sumio Iijima
Quoting from the website:“for their large impact in the development of the nanoscience field of the zero and one dimensional nanostructures in physics, chemistry and biology”
More information about the work of Professor Brus is available on the Kavli Foundation website and at the Brus Group website at Columbia University.“Louis Brus created the interdisciplinary field of colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals, through original discovery, theoretical modelling, chemical synthesis of purified samples, and by studying the spectroscopy of individual nanocrystals. His research, leadership, and mentoring have played a leading role in opening worldwide interest in colloidal nano materials with controlled size-dependent properties. The results of his studies have led to a surge of activities by many researchers in the field in the areas of synthesis and the application of these colloidal nanoparticles in many areas of chemistry, biology and medicine...”
More information about the work of Professor Iijima is available on the Kavli Foundation website and on many other pages accessible via your favorite search engine."Sumio Iijima prepared a new type of finite carbon structure consisting of needle-like tubes using an arc-discharge evaporation method. He also did careful electron microscopic analysis of the structure that revealed that each needle comprises coaxial tubes of graphitic sheets, ranging in number from 2 up to about 50. On each tube the carbon-atom hexagons are arranged in a helical fashion about the needle axis. The helical pitch varies from needle to needle and from tube to tube within a single needle. From this detailed structural analysis he has pointed out many future applications of these nanotubes."