Shechtman: Scientists Must Keep Eye on Leaders
Israeli professor Dan Shechtman was awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry in Stockholm on Saturday, and said that scientists have many duties, including keeping an eye on politicians.
“In the real world, politicians decide for us, but we must always watch over them,” Shechtman said during his acceptance speech.
Shechtman, a professor at Haifa’s Technion Institute, received the prize, valued at approximately one million Euros for cutting-edge work he did during the 1980s in the field of crystallography (the study of crystals). The prize was given for his discovery of atom patterns called quasicrystals, chemical structures previously thought impossible.
“It is our duty as scientists to promote education, rational thinking and tolerance,” Shechtman urged.
“Science is the ultimate tool to reveal the laws of nature and the one word written on its banner is ‘truth’,” he said. “The laws of nature are neither good nor bad. It is the way in which we apply them to our world that makes the difference.”
Up until Shechtman’s discovery, scientists had thought the atom patterns inside crystals had to repeat themselves. The Academy said Shechtman’s discovery in 1982 fundamentally changed the way chemists look at solid matter.
Shechtman studied aluminum alloys, and found that they didn’t behave in a way solid matter had previously been thought behave. As a result he discovered a completely new class of solids.
Israel has an impressive showing when it comes to Nobel winners, with 10 laureates in its 63-year history.
For more, go to Haaretz.com
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we still need 300 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Only 300 more gifts needed by April 30
