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Nobel for developers of smallest machines
STOCKHOLM: A trio of French, British and Dutch scientists won the Nobel Chemistry Prize on Wednesday for developing molecular machines, the world’s smallest machines
STOCKHOLM: A trio of French, British and Dutch scientists won the Nobel Chemistry Prize on Wednesday for developing molecular machines, the world’s smallest machines that may one day act as artificial muscles to power tiny robots or even prosthetic limbs.
Jean-Pierre Sauvage of France, J Fraser Stoddart of Britain and Bernard Feringa of the Netherlands “have developed molecules with controllable movements, which can perform a task when energy is added,” the jury said.
Inspired by proteins that naturally act as biological machines within cells, these synthetic copies are usually constructed of a few molecules fused together.
Also called nanomachines or nanobots, they can be put to work as tiny motors, ratchets, pistons or wheels to produce mechanical motion in response to stimuli such as light or temperature change.
Molecular machines can move objects many time their size. “The molecular motor is at the same stage as the electric motor was in the 1830s, when scientists displayed various spinning cranks and wheels, unaware that they would lead to electric trains, washing machines, fans and food processors,” the Nobel jury said.
Molecular machines will “most likely be used in the development of things such as new materials, sensors and energy storage systems,” it added.
The three laureates will share the eight million Swedish kronor (around $ 933,000) prize equally.
Feringa, a 65-year-old professor at the University of Groningen, told reporters at the Nobel press conference that the prize-winning research offered great opportunities for the future.
“I feel a little bit like the Wright brothers, who were flying 100 years ago for the first time. And then people were saying, ‘why do we need flying machines?’ And now we’ve got the Boeing 747 and the Airbus,” he said by video link.
“We will build those smart materials in the future. That is a big opportunity - materials that will re-configurate, that will change, that will adapt themselves, that have properties that can change because they pick up a signal.”
