Dan Shechtman is an Israeli physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his discovery of quasiperiodic crystals. He received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering and Material Engineering, respectively, from Technion – Israel University of Technology, and later obtained his Ph.D. in Materials Engineering from the same institute. He was born in Tel Aviv, Israel. He began his professional career at his alma institution. He took a two-year sabbatical in 1992 to study the effect of the defect structure of CVD diamond on its growth and attributes at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Maryland, America. He first found the icosahedral phase at NIST, which launched a new field of quasiperiodic crystals. Linus Pauling, a two-time Nobel Laureate and a hero of the American Chemical Society, was a staunch opponent of quasi-periodicity in crystals until the very end. However, experts later approved his finding, and in 2011, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for it.
Childhood and Adolescence
Dan Shechtman was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, on January 24, 1941.
After completing his official schooling and training, he joined at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, where he received his BSc in Mechanical Engineering in 1966 and an MSc in Material Engineering in 1968. He finally received his PhD in Materials Engineering in 1972.
He worked as an NRC fellow at the Aerospace Research Laboratories at Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio, for three years after receiving his PhD, studying the microstructure and physical metallurgy of titanium aluminides.
Career of Dan Shechtman
In 1975, he returned to his old university, Technion, to join the Department of Materials Engineering.
Between 1981 to 1983, he took a break and enrolled at John Hopkins University to study solidified aluminium transition metal alloys. He first discovered the Icosahedral Phase while studying at John Hopkins University, which launched a new field of quasiperiodic crystals.
He took a second vacation from Technion and travelled to the United States, where he studied for two years at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) between 1992 and 1994. He examined the effect of the defect structure of CVD diamond on its development and qualities while at NIST.
He carried out an experiment in which he rapidly chilled a molten glob of aluminum and manganese. Taking the general consensus into account, the most that could be expected was for atoms to be thrown together in a random tangle. The atoms, on the other hand, were packed in a well-defined pattern, which contradicted the findings. Furthermore, the pattern was unpredictable and never repeated.
Surprisingly, no one believed him when he first identified the materials in well-defined patterns. Linus Pauling, a two-time Nobel Laureate and American Chemical Society hero, claimed that the same was impossible. Scientists only began to confirm and accept actual discoveries of the existence of quasicrystals following the publication of his study.
His discovery also resulted in a shift in the definition of crystal. The International Union of Crystallography altered the definition of crystal from a “regularly ordered, repeating three-dimensional pattern” to “a solid with discrete diffraction diagram.”
Similar quasicrystals were discovered shortly after he discovered quasicrystals. Furthermore, they can be found in nature. The thermal and electrical conductivity of quasicrystals is low, but they have a great structural stability.
Quasicrystalline materials could be employed in a variety of applications, including the production of robust steel for delicate instrumentation, as well as non-stick insulation for electrical cables and cooking equipment.
He became a Professor of Materials Science at Iowa State University in 2004.
He declared his candidacy for President of Israel in 2014. He was endorsed by ten members of the Knesset, but only received one vote at the election.
He is currently the Philip Tobias Professor of Materials Science at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, an Associate of the US Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory, and an Iowa State University Professor of Materials Science.
Achievements & Awards
He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2011 for “discovering quasicrystals.”
Personal History and Legacy
He married Professor Tzipora Shechtman, the head of Haifa University’s Department of Counselling and Human Development.
Yoav Shechtman is the couple’s only son, and Tamar Finkelstein, Ella Shechtman-Cory, and Ruth Dougoud-Nevo are their three daughters.
Estimated Net Worth
Dan Shechtman, a well-known chemist, has a net worth of $1-5 million, according to Wikipedia, Forbes, IMDb, and other online sites. He is 78 years old. He made his living as a professional chemist. He was born in Israel.
Trivia
This quasicrystals discoverer is one of six Israelis to win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.