Paul Alivisatos, the incoming president of the University of Chicago and the John D. MacArthur Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Chemistry, the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering (PME), and the College, received the Priestley Medal on Aug. 22 at the American Chemical Society’s annual meeting in Atlanta.
The highest honor bestowed by the American Chemical Society, the award recognizes distinguished service to the field of chemistry. In its citation, the organization noted Alivisatos’ “foundational contributions to the chemistry of nanoscience, development of nanocrystals as nanotechnology building blocks and leadership in the chemistry and nanoscience communities.”
Alivisatos, who will begin his UChicago tenure Sept. 1, is widely known as a pioneer of nanoscience, the study of the world at extremely tiny scales—down to a few nanometers, less than the width of a human hair. In the 1990s, he helped develop some of the fundamental processes to make nanocrystals that underlie almost all nanotechnology made today, from solar panels to TV screens. For example, his research group showed how to grow nanocrystals all at the same size, a crucial step for using them in devices and at scale.
His group also demonstrated how to use these nanocrystals for medicine: They can be made of biocompatible materials that light up, enabling improved clinical tests of tissue samples and offering biomedical researchers the means to gain improved insights.
“These tiny crystals have brought a sense of wonder, not just to me but also to thousands of scientists and engineers from around the world who study them,” wrote Alivisatos in his remarks on receiving the award. “Their study offers renewed insight into the laws of physics and principles of chemistry and demonstrates the challenges of materials science and the pitfalls and joys on the road from discovery to their uses today in medical diagnostics and color displays.”
Read his full essay at Chemical & Engineering News.