Dan Shechtman

Dan Shechtman
Born	Dan Shechtman 24 1, 1941
Birthplace	Tel Aviv, Mandatory Palestine
Nationality	Israeli
Occupation	Materials scientist, professor
Known for	Discovery of quasicrystals
Education	Technion – Israel Institute of Technology (B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D.)
Spouse(s)	Tzipora Shechtman
Awards	Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2011), Wolf Prize in Physics (1999), Israel Prize (1998)

Dan Shechtman (Template:Lang-he; born January 24, 1941) is an Israeli materials scientist and the Philip Tobias Professor of Materials Science at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. He is also an Associate of the Ames National Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy and a Professor of Materials Science at Iowa State University. On April 8, 1982, while on sabbatical at the National Bureau of Standards (now the National Institute of Standards and Technology) in Washington, D.C., Shechtman observed an electron diffraction pattern from a rapidly solidified aluminum-manganese alloy that displayed a tenfold rotational symmetry — a configuration that violated one of the foundational rules of crystallography, which held that crystals could only possess two-, three-, four-, or sixfold symmetry. His discovery opened the new field of quasiperiodic crystals, commonly known as quasicrystals, and fundamentally changed the scientific understanding of solid matter. For this work, he was awarded the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, an unshared prize recognizing his singular contribution to overturning a paradigm that had governed crystallography for over two centuries. The Nobel Prize made Shechtman one of six Israeli citizens to have received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Early Life

Dan Shechtman was born on January 24, 1941, in Tel Aviv, a city on the Mediterranean coast of what was then Mandatory Palestine. Tel Aviv would become part of the newly established State of Israel in 1948, when Shechtman was seven years old. He grew up in an environment shaped by the early years of Israeli statehood.

As a young boy, Shechtman was drawn to science and mechanical things. He has cited Jules Verne's novel The Mysterious Island as a formative influence on his imagination and scientific curiosity. The book, which tells the story of castaways who use science and engineering to survive on an uninhabited island, inspired in Shechtman a fascination with how scientific knowledge could be applied to real-world problems.

Shechtman's early life unfolded during a period of rapid development in Israel, where scientific and technological education were considered vital to the nation's future. These formative experiences helped orient him toward a career in science and engineering, ultimately leading him to pursue higher education at one of Israel's premier technological institutions.

Education

Shechtman received all three of his academic degrees from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering, followed by a Master of Science degree, and ultimately a Doctor of Philosophy degree in materials engineering from the same institution. His doctoral research at the Technion provided him with expertise in electron microscopy and the study of materials at the atomic level — skills that would prove essential to his later groundbreaking discovery. The Technion's strong emphasis on materials science and engineering equipped Shechtman with the theoretical and practical foundation necessary for his career in research.

Career

Early Research and Sabbatical at NBS

After completing his doctorate at the Technion, Shechtman held research positions at several institutions. He spent time at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, where he conducted aerospace research, and he also held positions at Johns Hopkins University. He joined the faculty of the Technion, where he would maintain a long-term appointment throughout his career.

In 1981, Shechtman began a sabbatical at the National Bureau of Standards (NBS, later renamed the National Institute of Standards and Technology, or NIST) in Washington, D.C. His research at NBS focused on the microstructure of rapidly solidified aluminum alloys — metals that had been cooled very quickly from a molten state. The process of rapid solidification was of interest because it could produce novel alloy phases with properties that differed from those obtained through conventional solidification methods.

The Discovery of Quasicrystals

On April 8, 1982, Shechtman was examining a rapidly solidified alloy of aluminum and manganese using an electron microscope at NBS. When he directed an electron beam at the sample, the resulting diffraction pattern displayed a striking tenfold rotational symmetry. This was unprecedented. According to the established principles of crystallography — a field whose theoretical foundations had been developed over more than two centuries — crystals could only exhibit two-, three-, four-, or sixfold rotational symmetry. A fivefold or tenfold symmetry was considered impossible because such arrangements could not fill space in the repeating, periodic manner that defined crystalline structures.

All materials consist of atoms, and both the identity and arrangement of those atoms determine a material's properties. Since the pioneering work of German physicist Max von Laue in 1912, who first demonstrated that X-ray diffraction could reveal the atomic structure of crystals, scientists had operated under the assumption that crystalline order was synonymous with periodicity — the regular, repeating arrangement of atoms in three-dimensional space. Shechtman's diffraction pattern challenged this fundamental assumption.

Shechtman recognized the significance of what he observed immediately, recording in his laboratory notebook the Hebrew notation "10 fold???" alongside his data. He was aware that the scientific establishment would view the finding with skepticism, but he was confident in his measurements and his expertise as an electron microscopist.

Resistance and Controversy

Shechtman's discovery was met with intense skepticism and, in some cases, outright hostility from the scientific community. Many established scientists refused to accept that his observations represented a genuinely new form of matter. Instead, they suggested that what Shechtman had observed was merely a case of twinning — a well-known phenomenon in which multiple crystals grow together in a way that can mimic symmetries not present in a single crystal.

The opposition was led in part by Linus Pauling, one of the most prominent chemists of the twentieth century and himself a two-time Nobel laureate. Pauling was vocally opposed to the concept of quasicrystals, reportedly stating, "There is no such thing as quasicrystals, only quasi-scientists." The head of Shechtman's research group at NBS asked him to leave the group, considering his findings an embarrassment.

Despite this resistance, Shechtman persisted. He sought out collaborators who could help him verify and publish his results. In 1984, he and co-authors Ilan Blech, Denis Gratias, and John W. Cahn published a landmark paper in Physical Review Letters describing the icosahedral phase and presenting the experimental evidence for a new type of ordered but non-periodic structure. The publication triggered a rapid response in the scientific community. Other researchers began searching for and finding additional examples of similar structures. The paper became one of the most cited in the history of materials science.

Validation and Expansion of the Field

In the years following the 1984 publication, the field of quasicrystal research expanded rapidly. Scientists around the world reported discovering new quasicrystalline phases in a variety of alloy systems. Since Shechtman's initial observation, hundreds of quasicrystals have been identified. Many, though far from all, involve alloys of aluminum and other elements.

The discovery had profound implications beyond materials science. It forced the International Union of Crystallography to revise its official definition of a crystal. Previously, the definition required a crystal to have a periodic arrangement of atoms. The revised definition, adopted in 1992, broadened the concept to include any solid with a "discrete diffraction diagram," thereby accommodating quasicrystals within the formal framework of crystallography.

Quasicrystals were also found to possess unique physical properties. They tend to be very hard, have low friction surfaces, and do not conduct heat or electricity well compared to conventional metals. These properties made them of interest for potential applications, including non-stick coatings, thermal barriers, and light-emitting diodes.

In 2009, a naturally occurring quasicrystal — a mineral named icosahedrite — was identified in a meteorite sample from the Khatyrka meteorite found in eastern Russia, confirming that quasicrystalline structures can form through natural geological and astrophysical processes, not just through laboratory synthesis.

Academic Positions

Throughout his career, Shechtman maintained appointments at multiple institutions. He served as the Philip Tobias Professor of Materials Science at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, a position he held for decades. He also became a Professor of Materials Science at Iowa State University and an Associate of the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames National Laboratory, which is located on the Iowa State campus. He additionally held positions at Johns Hopkins University and Tohoku University in Japan at various points in his career.

Advocacy for Science and Technological Entrepreneurship

Beyond his research, Shechtman became an advocate for science education and technological entrepreneurship in Israel. He has spoken publicly about the importance of scientific literacy and the role of technological innovation in economic development. In interviews, he has discussed the need for Israel to invest in education and embrace entrepreneurship as a path to continued growth and stability.

Shechtman has also offered advice to young scientists, emphasizing the importance of trusting one's own experimental data even in the face of opposition from established authorities. In a 2017 address covered by the American Physical Society, he reflected on the years of resistance he faced and encouraged young researchers to be persistent and rigorous in their work.

Personal Life

Dan Shechtman is married to Tzipora Shechtman, a professor of counseling education at the University of Haifa. Upon learning of her husband's Nobel Prize, Tzipora Shechtman stated publicly that "he deserves it," reflecting on the years of professional struggle he had endured following his controversial discovery. The couple has children, including Yoav Shechtman, who has pursued a career in science.

Shechtman has lived in Israel for most of his life, dividing his time between Israel and the United States due to his dual academic appointments at the Technion and Iowa State University. He has spoken publicly about his attachment to Israel and his belief in the country's scientific and technological potential.

In a 2011 interview following the Nobel Prize announcement, conducted by Adam Smith of Nobel Media, Shechtman reflected on his career and the experience of having his discovery initially rejected by the scientific establishment before it gained universal acceptance.

Recognition

Dan Shechtman's discovery of quasicrystals earned him numerous awards and honors over the course of his career, culminating in the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Israel Prize

In 1998, Shechtman was awarded the Israel Prize in physics, one of the most prestigious honors bestowed by the State of Israel.

Wolf Prize in Physics

In 1999, he received the Wolf Prize in Physics, awarded by the Wolf Foundation in Israel, for his discovery of quasicrystals.

Nobel Prize in Chemistry

On October 5, 2011, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced that Shechtman had been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry "for the discovery of quasicrystals." The prize was unshared — Shechtman was the sole recipient — a distinction that underscored the singular nature of his contribution. The Nobel committee recognized that Shechtman's discovery had "fundamentally altered how chemists conceive of solid matter" and had required the redefinition of what constitutes a crystal.

The announcement of the prize was reported internationally. Bloomberg News, the Chicago Tribune, and Al Arabiya were among the major media outlets that covered the story.

Shechtman was elected a member of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.

Legacy

Dan Shechtman's discovery of quasicrystals stands as one of the most significant contributions to materials science and crystallography in the twentieth century. By demonstrating that ordered structures could exist without periodicity, he overturned a paradigm that had governed the understanding of crystal structure since the birth of modern crystallography. The redefinition of the term "crystal" by the International Union of Crystallography in 1992 — expanding it to encompass any solid with a discrete diffraction diagram — was a direct consequence of Shechtman's work.

The field that Shechtman's discovery created has grown substantially. Since the publication of his 1984 paper, hundreds of quasicrystalline materials have been identified, and the study of quasicrystals has attracted researchers from physics, chemistry, mathematics, and materials science. The discovery of the naturally occurring quasicrystal icosahedrite in a meteorite sample further expanded the significance of the finding, demonstrating that such structures are not merely laboratory curiosities but part of the natural world.

Shechtman's experience also became a well-known case study in the sociology of science, illustrating how a correct but paradigm-challenging discovery can face fierce resistance from the established scientific community. His perseverance in the face of ridicule from prominent figures, including a two-time Nobel laureate, has been cited as an example of the importance of intellectual courage and rigorous adherence to experimental evidence.

As a professor at both the Technion and Iowa State University, Shechtman trained generations of students in materials science and electron microscopy. His advocacy for science education and technological entrepreneurship has influenced public discourse in Israel regarding the role of innovation in national development.

The Technion featured Shechtman's Nobel Prize as a point of institutional pride, highlighting his decades-long association with the university.