Nobel Lecture Series

Welcome to Nobel Prize Winner Dan Shechtman's Lab

Prof. Dan Shechtman, the winner of the Nobel Prize in 2011, visited National Taipei University of Technology (Taipei Tech) on May 8, 2012, and delivered a very distinctive lecture on quasicrystals.

During the lecture at Taipei Tech, the lecture hall was filled with students. Together with Prof. Shechtman, they watched crystals through transmission electron microscopes. Prof. Shechtman took the students back to the time when he first found quasicrystal 30 years ago, a discovery which created a revolution in the fields of physics and chemistry. The students were also extremely curious about the process of discovery. They posed many questions to the professor, such as what brand of microscope he used 30 years ago when observing the quasicrystals, and what was it like being in the spotlight. They were amazed and inspired by the professor’s wit and humor. Like people said, great people are often humble and easy to get along with--a lesson students learned in Professor Shechtman’s lab.

The visit was the result of “The Pearl Fund Project.” In 2012, over 100 million dollars was donated by university alumni. “The Pearl Fund Project” was officially launched to invite 25 prestigious scholars to visit Taipei Tech and give lectures and speeches in the hopes to enhance students’ global awareness and technological competence. Everyone agreed that the conference was an outstanding success.