September 2024    
         
         
 
     
  A Nobel legacy  
     
  Nearly two-thirds of the 99 Nobel laureates associated with the University of Chicago received the honor for their contributions to chemistry, physics, or medicine. In anticipation of the 2024 announcements in October, look back at two recent laureates and test your knowledge of UChicago’s earliest winners.  
     
  Nanoscience Nobelist: Moungi Bawendi, PhD’88  
     
 
Moungi Bawendi, PhD'88
 
 
     
  Moungi Bawendi, PhD’88, was awarded a share of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work in the field of quantum dots. Photography by Justin Knight/MIT.  
     
 
     
  Moungi Bawendi, PhD’88, received a one-third share of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his transformative work on quantum dots—tiny semiconductor particles with quantum effects that are now essential in nanotechnology. While a graduate student at UChicago, Bawendi revolutionized production of the nanometer-sized particles. He collaborated on this work at Bell Labs with fellow nanotechnology pioneer Paul Alivisatos, AB’81, current University president. The work of Bawendi and fellow laureates Louis E. Brus and Aleksey Yekimov enabled use of the particles in widely adopted technology like LED displays and biomedical imaging and paved the way for current research on quantum dot use.  
     
 
 
  The prize is right  
     
  Do you know your Nobelists? Test your knowledge of past UChicago science laureates. Answers are at the bottom.  
     
 
     
  1  
     
 
This physicist had his Nobel medal dissolved in acid by chemist Georgy de Hevesy to protect it from Nazi theft during World War II. After the war, de Hevesy precipitated the gold back out and the Nobel Society recast the medal.
 
     
     
     
 
     
  2  
     
 
In his novel Glide Path, Arthur C. Clarke modeled a character after this inventor of the ground-controlled approach radar system.
 
     
     
     
 
     
  3  
     
 
During World War II, this chemist led the Information Division of the Plutonium Project at the UChicago Metallurgical Laboratory. In 1944 he helped draft this project’s “Prospectus on Nucleonics” on peaceful uses of atomic energy.
 
     
     
     
 
     
  4  
     
 
Having studied under Enrico Fermi, this laureate went on to become the second-youngest scientist to receive a Nobel—and was one of the first two Chinese laureates, along with Chen Ning Yang, PhD’48.
 
     
     
     
 
     
  5  
     
 
Portrayed by Josh Hartnett in the 2023 film Oppenheimer, this inventor of the cyclotron studied at UChicago for a year under British physicist William Francis Gray Swann.
 
     
     
     
 
     
  6  
     
 
This geneticist researched the effects of enzymes on gene mutations by conducting experiments on Neurospora crassa, a species of bread mold.
 
     
     
 
         
         
    Spotlight    
         
         
 
     
  A supermassive honor: Andrea Ghez, LAB’83  
     
 
Andrea Ghez, LAB'83
 
 
     
  Andrea Ghez, LAB’83, is shown holding her Nobel Prize in Physics at the time it was presented. The UCLA professor is the fourth woman to receive the award. Photography by Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press.  
     
 
     
  Astronomer Andrea Ghez, LAB’83, was awarded a share of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics for her discovery of a supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. Ghez, who teaches at UCLA, developed advanced telescopic techniques to track the movement of stars around the black hole, providing definitive proof of its existence. A Chicago native and Laboratory Schools alumna, Ghez’s early fascination with science was nurtured by mentors who encouraged her passion for math and astronomy. She is the fourth woman to receive the Nobel Prize in Physics and shares the 2020 honor with Roger Penrose and Reinhard Genzel.  
     
  Read Ghez’s interview with UChicago News on her historic Nobel win and being a “spokesperson for science.”  
     
 
 
  In case you missed it  
     
 
 
Nicholas Boynton, Shrayesh Patel, Stuart Rowan
 
A matter of discovery: Meet the researchers focusing on the science of “stuff”—the new metal alloys, chemical compounds, and versatile plastics of emerging technology.
 
Elisabeth Moyer
 
And now for the weather: Explore current research into climate change, weather shifts, and new tech that could mitigate their devastating effects.
 
 
 
 
 
 
  ANSWER KEY  
     
  1. James Franck, UChicago faculty, 1938–64
2. Luis Alvarez, SB’32, SM’34, PhD’36
3. Robert Mulliken, PhD 1921
4. Tsung-Dao Lee, PhD’50
5. Ernest Lawrence, UChicago doctoral student, 1923–24
6. Edward Tatum, LAB’26, EX’31
 
     
 
 
 
     
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