The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2000

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded
the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for 2000 jointly to
Alan J. Heeger, Alan G. MacDiarmid and Hideki Shirakawa "for the discovery and development of conductive polymers".

Alan Heeger, Alan MacDiarmid and Hideki Shirakawa have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for showing how plastic can be made to conduct electric current. This surprising discovery has radically altered our view of plastic as a material. Conductive polymers today constitute a growing research field of great significance to chemists and physicists alike.