The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2023 explained
𝘔𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘪 𝘎. 𝘉𝘢𝘸𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪, 𝘓𝘰𝘶𝘪𝘴 𝘌. 𝘉𝘳𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘈𝘭𝘦𝘹𝘦𝘪 𝘐. 𝘌𝘬𝘪𝘮𝘰𝘷 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘰𝘣𝘦𝘭 𝘗𝘳𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘊𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺 2023 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘮 𝘥𝘰𝘵𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘴𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘓𝘌𝘋 𝘭𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘺𝘴𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘶𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘶𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘰𝘯.
In the tiny world of extremely small things, things start acting in really unusual ways. Imagine if you were measuring something and it got so tiny that you needed a super tiny ruler – like a million times smaller than the width of a strand of hair. At that point, some really strange phenomenon start happening because of something called "quantum effects." These effects are so odd that they challenge our common sense.
Louis Brus and Alexei Ekimov won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2023 for being pioneers in studying this super tiny world. Back in the early 1980s, they did something amazing separately. They synthesized these super tiny particles called "quantum dots," which are so small that these weird quantum effects control how they act.
As an illustration, quantum dots that naturally produce light can create a wide range of precise colors at different levels of brightness and are being employed in the next generation of large displays because of their efficient utilization of light and straightforward design.
Then in 1993, another scientist named Moungi Bawendi made a big improvement in how we make these quantum dots. He made them really high-quality, which is super important for using them in the tiny tech technology we have today.
