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The Path to the Nobel Prize: Shechtman Timeline.

06.10.2011
Meeting at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 1985 just months after shaking the foundations of materials science with publication of his discovery of quasicrystals, Daniel Shechtman, winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, discusses the material’s surprising atomic structure with collaborators. From left to right are Shechtman; Frank Biancaniello, NIST; Denis Gratias, National Science Research Center, France; John Cahn, NIST; Leonid Bendersky, Johns Hopkins University (now at NIST); and Robert Schaefer, NIST.
Seeing is believing, or not?
Technion President Prof. Peretz Lavie with Prof. Dan Shechtman at the
Nobel Prize press conference (October 5th, 2011)


Milestones on the Path to the Nobel Prize

1912
1st Cornerstone of the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology is laid.
1941
Shechtman is born.

1966
Shechtman receives his Bsc from Technion.
1968

Shechtman receives his Msc from Technion.


1972

Shechtman receives his Phd from Technion.


1982

Dan Shechtman discovers Shechtmanite (quasicrystals), observing the icosahedral phase in rapidly solidified aluminum transition metal alloys

1982-84
Shechtman ridiculed, and his paper rejected for publication.
1984
Shechtman’s discovery appears in Physical Review Letters.
1984-1987
Support follows from physicists and mathematicians. Chemist Linus Pauling continues until his death in 1994 to deny Shechtman’s discovery.
1987
Findings presented at Australian crystallography conference and Shechtman finally begins to gain recognition

1988

The International Award for New Materials of the American Physical Society
1990
Rothschild Prize in Engineering
1991
International Union of Crystallography amends its definition of crystals
1993
Weizmann Science Award  
1996
Elected member of the Israel Academy of Sciences
1997
Elected Honorary Member of Materials Research Society of India (MRSI)
1998
Israel Prize in Physics; Honorary Member of ISIS-Symmetry (International Society for Interdisciplinary Sciences); Honorary Member of the Israel Society for Microscopy
1999
Wolf Prize in Physics, “for the experimental discovery of quasicrystals which inspired the exploration of a new fundamental state of matter”; Honorary Member of the Israel Crystallographic Association  
2000
Gregori Aminoff Prize of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences; Member of the American National Academy of Engineering; Honorary Member of the French Physical Society
2002
EMET Prize for Science, Art and Culture, “for his pioneering contribution to the discovery of quasicrystals which revolutionized the understanding of solid state science”
2004
Member of the European Academy of Sciences
2006
Honorary Member of the Japan Institute of Metals “in recognition of his outstanding contributions in the field of metallurgy and materials science”
2007
International Symposium: Quasicrystals – The Silver Jubilee, Tel Aviv
2008 
European Materials Research Society 25th Anniversary Award
2011
Symposium to Honor Distinguished Prof. Dan Shechtman on his 70th Birthday, Technion.
2011
Nobel Prize in Chemistry