AIP Congratulates Daniel Shechtman, Winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Melville, NY, October 5, 2011 — AIP Publishing, a division of the American Institute of Physics (AIP) (aip.org), congratulates this year’s Nobel Laureate in Chemistry for his discovery of quasicrystals. The prize was awarded to Daniel Shechtman, a distinguished professor at the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. The announcement was made today at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden.

Contrary to the previous belief that all crystals had a well-defined symmetry with repeatable patterns, Professor Shechtman showed that the atoms in a crystal could be packed in a pattern that never repeated, yet maintained a well-defined symmetry. The discovery was first published in the American Physical Society’s journal Physical Review Letters in 1984. Today, scientists experiment with quasicrystals in cookware coatings, in components for energy-saving LEDs, and for heat insulation in engines, among other things.

“We applaud Professor Shechtman, not only for his groundbreaking work in quasicrystals, but for his perseverance and determination in bringing his results to light in the face of great opposition as well,” said AIP Publisher Mark Cassar. “We are extremely pleased to have Professor Shechtman as a contributing author, and in recognition of his seminal work, we’re making articles he’s published in AIP journals available free of charge.”

Following his breakthrough work, Professor Shechtman went on to publish a number of authoritative articles in AIP’s Journal of Applied Physics and Applied Physics Letters on topics ranging from X-ray diffraction to metastable phase formation. Each of these articles, along with the top 25 most highly cited AIP journal and magazine articles on quasicrystals, is now freely accessible at www.aip.org/ojs/NobelChemistry2011.html .