Scientists Moungi Bawendi, Louis Brus and Alexei Ekimov have won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, as announced by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, based in Stockholm, for their research on the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots. Last year, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry went to researchers Barry Sharpless, Morten Meldal and Carolyn Bertozzi, creators of so-called 'click chemistry', which allows simple molecular blocks to be 'glued together' as if it were a Lego game to create others. more complex. In this way, materials with desired properties are achieved, such as conducting electricity or being antibacterial. This technique has even been used in living cells and has allowed the development of a drug that could prevent the spread of cancer. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was announced, as usual, one day after that in Physics. On Tuesday the Swedish Academy awarded physicists Pierre Agostini, Anne L'Huillier and Ferenc Krausz for the creation of a technique with pulses of light capable of seeing the movement of electrons inside atoms in attoseconds, a time interval which is equivalent to one trillionth of a second. It is the shortest time scale captured by humans. On Monday, the Hungarian biochemist Katalin Karikó and the American immunologist Drew Weissman, pioneers of messenger RNA vaccines that paved the way for vaccines against Covid-19, were awarded the 2023 Nobel Prize in Medicine. The chemistry award will be followed by the highly anticipated Literature and Peace awards, which will be announced on Thursday and Friday, respectively. The winners will receive the prize, which includes a medal and $1 million, from Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf in Stockholm on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death.
