The Nobel Prize in Chemistry was officially awarded on Wednesday to three scientists for the discovery and development of quantum dots—hours after the winners’ names were revealed in an apparent leak to the media in Sweden. The prize was given to MIT professor Moungi G. Bawendi, Columbia University’s Louis E. Brus, and Alexei I. Ekimov, who works at the New York-based company Nanocrystals Technology. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences described quantum dots as the “smallest components of nanotechnology” that are used in televisions and can help guide surgeons removing tumors. Sweden’s Aftonbladetnewspaper reported Wednesday morning that it had received a press release from the academy naming Bawendi, Brus, and Ekimov as the winners. Johan Aqvist, the chair of the academy’s Nobel committee for chemistry, told Reuters soon after that the “winners have not been selected” yet, but the trio were officially named as the winners later on Wednesday morning.
