On 5 October 2016, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2016 was awarded jointly to Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Sir J. Fraser Stoddart, and Bernard L. Feringa “for the design and synthesis of molecular machines”.
They developed the world’s smallest machines
Jean-Pierre Sauvage (University of Strasbourg, France), Sir J. Fraser Stoddart (Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA), and Bernard L. Feringa (University of Groningen, the Netherlands) have developed molecules with controllable movements, which can perform a task when energy is added. The development of computing demonstrates how the miniaturisation of technology can lead to a revolution. The 2016 Nobel Laureates in Chemistry have miniaturised machines and taken chemistry to a new dimension.
Chemistry International is honoured to have had Ben Feringa as the author of a feature titled “The Art of Building Small” in the current Sep-Oct 2016 issue of the IUPAC magazine, sharing his presentation of the Chemistry for the Future Solvay Prize which he received in November 2015.