HOUSTON – A Rice University alumnus was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry for the “discovery and development of quantum dots,” nanosized particles with unique properties “that now spread their light from television screens and LED lamps,” according to a Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announcement.
University officials said Louis Brus, who started his undergraduate education at Rice in 1961, shared the honor with Moungi Bawendi and Alexei Ekimov.
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According to reports, the trio’s work has been crucial to the development of nanotechnology, which has helped drive major computing advances and transformed electronics.
The Swedish Academy highlighted Brus’ role as “the first scientist in the world to prove size-dependent quantum effects in particles floating freely in a fluid.”
While at Rice, Brus studied chemistry, physics and mathematics and developed “a love of history that has stayed with me to this day,” he is quoted saying in a statement when he received the 2008 Kavli Prize in nanoscience. Brus praised his alma mater for its “rigorous, fundamental, yet broad education.”
“Today’s announcement recognizes Louis Brus’s pathbreaking, inspirational scientific career, one that has blended chemistry and physics in ways that have opened up entirely new areas of research and discovery,” Rice President Reginald DesRoches said. “We are proud of and salute our alum Louis and congratulate him and his colleagues for this well-deserved award.”
After earning his bachelor’s degree at the university, Brus went on to earn a Ph.D. in chemical physics from Columbia University in 1969 then served as a scientific staff officer at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. Upon completing his service as a Navy lieutenant, Brus joined the AT&T Bell Labs in Murray Hill, New Jersey, a news release from the university said.
Brus, who is the Samuel Latham Mitchill Professor Emeritus and Special Research Scientist at Columbia, serves on the university’s Chemistry Department visiting committees.
“Lou’s pioneering work on quantum dots changed the way we see the world, and opto-electronics would not be where they are today without his contributions,” said Ramamoorthy Ramesh, Rice’s vice president for research and professor of materials science and nanoengineering and of physics and astronomy. “His accomplishments go hand-in-hand with a reverence for fundamental research and the role of universities in promoting discoveries.”
According to the Associated Press, the five-member Nobel Prize committees spend months whittling down lists of nominations before the full academy makes its official decision on the day of the award, announcing Nobel winners at a scheduled news conference. On Wednesday, Swedish media got an emailed press release revealing the winners and the news prematurely went public.