Dan Shechtman — chem (nobel) with roots in the Russian Empire
Dan Shechtman is an Israeli materials scientist who won the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of quasicrystals — a finding so controversial that he was initially ridiculed and asked to leave his research group. His perseverance proved a new form of matter that transformed crystallography.
Tracing the roots — Russia (Zelvin)
Shechtman's family traces to Zelvin in the Russian Empire. His story — an outsider scientist persisting against consensus to overturn a foundational assumption of chemistry — carries something of the Jewish immigrant tradition of questioning received authority.
Discovered Quasicrystals.
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Russia (Zelvin). At the time, this region lay within the Russian Empire, which spanned from Poland to the Pacific.
A career defined by ambition
"There is no such thing as a single-scientist discovery. But sometimes one person holds the key."