Israeli scientist wins 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

"The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2011 to Daniel Shechtman from Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel for the discovery of quasicrystals," Normark said in a statement.

According to Xinhua, Shechtman discovered quasicrystals, a kind of matter, on April 8, 1982, an image counter to the laws of nature in his electron microscope.

"In all solid matter, atoms were believed to be packed inside crystals in symmetrical patterns that were repeated periodically over and over again. But Shechtman's image showed that the atoms in his crystal were packed in a pattern that could not be repeated," said the statement.

"Such a pattern was considered just as impossible as creating a football using only six-cornered polygons, when a sphere needs both five-and six-cornered polygons. His discovery was extremely controversial," the Nobel Committee explained in the statement.

For full version go to http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/sci/2011-10/05/c_131175550.htm