Inspiring Nobel Lecture

Nobel Lecture in Chemistry: Distinguished Professor Dan Shechtman

During the official Nobel lecture which took place on the 8^th of December, 2011 at 11:30 AM CET. Nobel laureate and Distinguished Professor Dan Shechtman spoke about his astounding discover of quasicrystals in 1982. He began by explaining periodicity and four-fold symmetry and that it looks the same – even if it is rotated. From 1912-1982 all crystals were considered to be ordered and periodic. Nobody ever expected something new to be discovered.

By using electron diffraction patterns, Prof. Shechtman was able to observe five-fold symmetry. On the screen, during his moving lecture, shared a page from his original log book which was dated “April 8, 1982” which listed the experiments that he performed as well as his observations on that day. Only years later was he joined by Ilan Blech and other scientists and together their work was finally published and accepted by the scientific community, even though it had originally been rejected.

Professor Shechtman wondered why this discovery had not happened before 1982, due to the fact that some est. 100,000 crystals had been studied for a period of 70 years. He stated that quasicrystals, although being abundant, were not rare. That aluminum alone has hundreds of them and that they are stable, very easy, and quite inexpensive to make.

The five factors, which he shared, which lead to the discovery and acceptance were the following:

1. TEM – the Transition Electron Microscope. (The discovery could not be made with x-rays and required this powerful tool which enabled scientists to see things at atomic level.

2. Professionalism.

3. Tenacity.

4. Belief in self as a scientist.

5. Courage.

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