Dan Shechtman facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Dan Shechtman
דן שכטמן |
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Dan Shechtman, Nobel Prize 2011 press conference.
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| Born | January 24, 1941 |
| Education | Technion – Israel Institute of Technology |
| Alma mater | Technion |
| Known for | Quasicrystals |
| Spouse(s) | Tzipora Shechtman |
| Children | Yoav Shechtman |
| Awards | Weizmann Prize(1993) Israel Prize (1998) Wolf Prize in Physics (1999) Gregori Aminoff Prize (2000) Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2011) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Materials science |
| Institutions | Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Johns Hopkins University National Institute of Standards and Technology Iowa State University Technion Tohoku University |
Dan Shechtman (Hebrew: דן שכטמן; born January 24, 1941) is a famous Israeli scientist. He is a professor of Materials science at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. He also works with the US Department of Energy and at Iowa State University.
On April 8, 1982, while working in Washington, D.C., Shechtman made a big discovery. He found the "icosahedral phase," which led to a new field of study called quasiperiodic crystals. For this important work, he was given the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. He is one of six Israelis to win this Nobel Prize.
Contents
About Dan Shechtman
Dan Shechtman was born in 1941 in Tel Aviv. This city was part of Mandatory Palestine at the time. It became part of the new country of Israel in 1948. He grew up in a Jewish family. His grandparents had moved to Palestine many years before.
As a child, Shechtman loved reading The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne. He read it many times. His dream was to become an engineer, just like the main character in the book, Cyrus Smith. He said he wanted to be like Cyrus because an engineer could create a whole way of life from nothing.
Shechtman is married to Professor Tzipora Shechtman. She is a professor at Haifa University. They have a son, Yoav Shechtman, and three daughters.
His Science Career
Dan Shechtman earned his degrees in engineering from the Technion in Israel. He got his bachelor's degree in 1966, his master's in 1968, and his PhD in 1972. After finishing his studies, he worked in the United States for three years. He studied how different metals were made and how they behaved.
In 1975, he returned to the Technion to teach. From 1981 to 1983, he worked at Johns Hopkins University. It was during this time that he made his groundbreaking discovery. He found the "icosahedral phase," which opened up the study of quasiperiodic crystals.
Later, from 1992 to 1994, he worked at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). He studied how diamonds grew and what made them special. Shechtman also joined the faculty at Iowa State University in 2004. He spends part of his year working there. Since 2014, he has also led the International Scientific Council of Tomsk Polytechnic University.
What are Quasicrystals?
When Dan Shechtman first shared his discovery of quasicrystals in 1984, many scientists did not believe him. One very famous scientist, Linus Pauling, strongly disagreed. Pauling even said, "There is no such thing as quasicrystals, only quasi-scientists." Shechtman said that for a long time, it felt like "me against the world." He was often made fun of.
Even his own research group leader told him to "go back and read the textbook." This leader even asked him to leave the team for "bringing disgrace." But Shechtman knew he was right. Over time, other scientists started to find and confirm the existence of quasicrystals.
The Nobel Committee said that Shechtman's discovery was "extremely controversial." However, his work "eventually forced scientists to reconsider their conception of the very nature of matter." This means his discovery changed how scientists thought about what materials are made of.
By 1987, other groups were able to create similar quasicrystals. Scientists found that these materials do not conduct heat or electricity very well. But they are very strong and stable. Quasicrystals have also been found in nature.
A quasiperiodic crystal, or quasicrystal, is a material that is ordered but does not repeat its pattern. Imagine a pattern that fills a space completely but never repeats itself exactly. This is like a quasicrystal.
Ancient Islamic mosaics, like those in the Alhambra palace in Spain, can help us understand quasicrystals. These mosaics have patterns that follow mathematical rules but never repeat. The "golden ratio" is often found in these patterns and in quasicrystals. This ratio is linked to the Fibonacci sequence, where each number is the sum of the two before it.
Quasicrystalline materials could be used in many ways. They might be used to make very strong steel for tools. They could also be used for non-stick coatings on electrical wires or cooking equipment. The Nobel Prize he received was worth about 1.5 million US dollars.
Running for President
On January 17, 2014, Dan Shechtman announced that he wanted to become the President of Israel. He got the support of ten members of the Israeli parliament, which he needed to run. However, in the election held on June 10, 2014, he received only one vote. Because of this, some people jokingly called him a "quasi-president."
Awards and Honors
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- 2019: Honorary John von Neumann Professor title
- 2014: Fray International Sustainability Award
- 2013: Honorary doctorate from Bar-Ilan University
- 2011: Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering quasicrystals
- 2008: European Materials Research Society 25th Anniversary Award
- 2002: EMET Prize in Chemistry
- 2000: Muriel & David Jacknow Technion Award for Excellence in Teaching
- 2000: Gregori Aminoff Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences
- 1999: Wolf Prize in Physics
- 1998: Israel Prize, for Physics
- 1993: Weizmann Science Award
- 1990: Rothschild Prize in Engineering
- 1988: New England Academic Award of the Technion
- 1988: International Award for New Materials of the American Physical Society
- 1986: Physics Award of the Friedenberg Fund
See also
In Spanish: Dan Shechtman para niños
- List of Israel Prize recipients
- List of Israeli Nobel laureates
- List of Jewish Nobel laureates
- Science and technology in Israel
