Dan Shechtman (born 1941): The Scientist Who Trusted His Microscope

Introduction

Dan Shechtman is an Israeli materials scientist and professor at the Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. He discovered quasicrystals, solids that are orderly yet never repeat, and won the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry as the sole laureate. His life is a case study in scientific courage: for years he defended an observation that contradicted accepted theory, and was eventually proved right.

Early Life and Family

Shechtman was born on 24 January 1941 in Tel Aviv, in what was then British Mandate Palestine. He grew up in Petah Tikva and Ramat Gan. As a child he read Jules Verne's novel The Mysterious Island, which he has described as an early inspiration, and it sparked his interest in science and engineering. His parents ran a small printing business, and his family valued education. He has often said that his father, who was hard-working but not a scientist, encouraged him to study. He married Tzipora, a professor of counselling at Haifa's Oranim college, and they have children and grandchildren.

Education and Mentors

Shechtman studied mechanical engineering at the Technion, receiving his bachelor's degree in 1966. He then moved to materials engineering, obtaining a master's degree in 1968 and a PhD in 1972 from the Technion, specialising in physical metallurgy. After the doctorate he spent three years as a postdoctoral fellow at the Aerospace Research Laboratories at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, where he worked on titanium aluminides and developed expertise in electron microscopy. He returned to the Technion in 1975, and later took sabbaticals in the USA, including at Johns Hopkins University and the National Bureau of Standards.

Career Timeline

Major Scientific Contributions

Shechtman's central contribution is the experimental discovery of quasicrystals in 1982. Using transmission electron microscopy and electron diffraction, he found an aluminium-manganese phase whose diffraction pattern showed sharp spots with icosahedral symmetry, which is forbidden in periodic crystals. The finding showed that long-range order does not require periodicity, and it forced the scientific community to broaden the definition of a crystal. Over the next decades he studied the growth, structure and properties of quasicrystals, and he extended his interests to magnesium alloys and new alloys for engineering use. Read our companion discovery post for the chemistry and the exam points.

Awards, Honours and Nobel Prize

• Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2011, "for the discovery of quasicrystals", awarded to him alone.
• Wolf Prize in Physics (1999), shared with others for work on quasicrystals.
• Israel Prize in Physics (1998).
• Gregori Aminoff Prize (2000) of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, for crystallography.
• Membership of the US National Academy of Engineering, the US National Academy of Sciences (foreign associate) and the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities.
• He is a Distinguished Professor at the Technion and holds a position at Iowa State University and the Ames Laboratory in the USA, where he has worked since the 2000s.

Personality, Struggles and Lesser-Known Facts

• Asked to leave his group. After announcing the result, he was told by his research group leader to go away, because he was said to be bringing disgrace on the team. He kept his belief in what he saw.
• The famous notebook entry. Next to the ten-fold pattern he wrote "10 Fold ???", expressing his own surprise.
• Linus Pauling's criticism. The two-time Nobel laureate opposed quasicrystals for years and is reported to have said, "There is no such thing as quasicrystals, only quasi-scientists." Shechtman faced this publicly.
• First paper rejected. A first submission was turned down, and the paper reached print only after he had colleagues join as co-authors.
• Entrepreneurship. He promotes technological entrepreneurship and teaches students at the Technion about innovation.
• Science education. He has campaigned for science teaching in primary schools, saying that children should learn to ask questions early.

Legacy and Influence on Modern Chemistry

The discovery of quasicrystals led to a revision of the definition of a crystal by the International Union of Crystallography, which now stresses the discrete diffraction pattern rather than periodicity. It opened new fields in mathematics (aperiodic tilings), physics (electronic properties of aperiodic structures) and materials science (new coatings and strengthened steels). A natural quasicrystal was later found in a meteorite, demonstrating that nature had made them long before humans did. Shechtman is also remembered as a role model for scientists who must defend inconvenient data.

Lessons for Students

• Trust data, but test it hard. He first ruled out twinning and other artefacts before announcing his result.
• Be ready for criticism. New ideas often meet resistance; patience and evidence win in the end.
• Learn broadly. An engineer by training, he made a discovery central to chemistry and physics.
• Collaborate. Colleagues such as Blech, Gratias and Cahn helped him present the work convincingly.

FAQ

Was Shechtman a chemist by training?

He trained as a mechanical engineer and materials engineer. His prize was in Chemistry because the discovery changed the understanding of atomic arrangements in solids.

Where does he work?

Mainly at the Technion in Haifa, with a long association with Iowa State University in the USA.

What did Pauling say about his work?

Pauling argued that the diffraction patterns came from twinned ordinary crystals, and he remained a critic until his death in 1994.

Did he win any other major prizes?

Yes, including the Wolf Prize in Physics in 1999 and the Israel Prize in 1998.

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