The 2023 Nobel prize in chemistry has been awarded to a trio for the discovery and development of particles so tiny they were once thought too small to be possible. They are widely used in television screens, LED lights and to guide surgeons removing cancer tumours.
Moungi G. Bawendi from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US, Louis E. Brus from Columbia University in the US and Alexei I. Ekimov from Nanocrystals Technology Inc. in New York in the US will share the prize sum of 11 million Swedish kronor (£822,910).
The trio all contributed to the discovery and development of quantum dots, which are nanoparticles (particles between one to 100 nanometres in size) so small that their size actually determines their properties.
