Stockholm, Oct 5 (IANS) Israeli scientist Daniel Shechtman Wednesday won the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of quasicrystals.


Shechtman, from Israel Institute of Technology, discovered the quasicrystals, a mosaic of atoms, in April 1982.

"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," Staffan Normark, permanent secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, said here in a statement.

"Following Shechtman's discovery, scientists have produced other kinds of quasicrystals in the lab and discovered naturally occurring quasicrystals in mineral samples from a Russian river," Xinhua reported quoting the statement.

Scientists currently are experimenting using quasicrystals in products such as frying pans and diesel engines.

This was the third of this year's crop of Nobel prizes, which are handed out annually for achievements in science, literature, economics and peace.

All but one of the prizes were established in the will of 19th century dynamite millionaire Alfred Nobel. The economics award was set up by Sweden's central bank in 1968.

On Tuesday, the Nobel Prize in Physics went to Saul Perlmutter, Brian Schmidt and Adam Riess, all American citizens, while Schmidt is also an Australian citizen.

Nobel dedicated his vast fortune to create prizes for those, who have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind. The Nobel Prizes have been awarded annually since 1901.

Each prize consists of a medal, a personal diploma and a cash award of 10 million Swedish kronor ($1.46 million).