WASHINGTON, DC -- Secretary of Energy Steven Chu today congratulated Daniel Shechtman for winning the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry “for the discovery of quasicrystals.”
“Dr. Schechtman’s discovery in 1982 not only led to a new field of quasicrystals, but also forever changed ideas about matter,” said Secretary Chu, who is a 1997 Nobel Laureate in Physics. “His important work underscores the impact of basic science research and I congratulate him for this well-deserved recognition.”
Shechtman is an associate scientist at the Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory, an Iowa State University professor of materials science and engineering, and the Philip Tobias Professor of Materials Science at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology. Shechtman joined Iowa State and the Ames Lab in 2004 and spends about four months a year in Iowa. He is currently at the Technion in Haifa, Israel.
Shechtman made his discovery at the U.S. National Bureau of Standards -- now known as the National Institute of Standards and Technology -- during a sabbatical from the Technion.
The Nobel Prize news release is at: http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/2011/press.html
The Ames Laboratory’s news release is at: http://www.ameslab.gov/news/news-releases/ames-laboratory-iowa-state-university-technion-scientist-wins-nobel-prize-chemist
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