Tunisian-American scientist Moungi Bawendi won, along with American Louis Brus and Russian Alexei Ekimov, the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "the discovery and synthesis of quantum dots," which illuminate computer monitors and television screens and are used by doctors to map tumours. 62-year-old Bawendi is Lester Wolfe Professor of Chemistry at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The three scientists received this award on Wednesday for the "discovery and development of quantum dots, nanoparticles so tiny that their size determines their properties", reads a jury press release. Bawendi, who studied chemistry at the Harvard University in Boston, is the son of mathematician Mohamed Salah Bawendi - one of the first Tunisian professors at the Tunis Faculty of Science. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Bawendi and his team at the MIT, Cambridge, studied semiconductor nanostructures known as "quantum dots" or "QDs", as part of researches combining synthetic and biological chemistry. Quantum dots now illuminate computer monitors and television screens based on QLED technology. They also add nuance to the light of some LED lamps, and biochemists and doctors use them to map biological tissue. Quantum dots are thus bringing the greatest benefit to humankind. Researchers believe that in the future they could contribute to flexible electronics, tiny sensors, thinner solar cells and encrypted quantum communication.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse